II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1437 

To modernize voter registration, promote access to voting for individuals 

with disabilities, protect the ability of individuals to exercise the right 

to vote in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2017 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. COONS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

BROWN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To modernize voter registration, promote access to voting 

for individuals with disabilities, protect the ability of 

individuals to exercise the right to vote in elections for 

Federal office, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Voter Empowerment Act of 2017’’. 

6 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

7 United States that— 


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1 (1) all eligible citizens of the United States 

2 should access and exercise their constitutional right 

3 to vote in a free, fair, and timely manner; and 

4 (2) the integrity, security, and accountability of 

5 the voting process must be vigilantly protected, 

6 maintained, and enhanced in order to protect and 

7 preserve electoral and participatory democracy in the 

8 United States. 

9 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

10 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—VOTER REGISTRATION MODERNIZATION 

Sec. 100. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Promoting Internet Registration 

Sec. 101. Requiring availability of Internet for voter registration. 

Sec. 102. Use of Internet to update registration information. 

Sec. 103. Provision of election information by electronic mail to individuals registered to vote. 

Sec. 104. Clarification of requirement regarding necessary information to show 

eligibility to vote. 

Sec. 105. Effective date. 

Subtitle B—Automated Registration of Certain Individuals 

Sec. 111. Automated voter registration. 

Sec. 112. List maintenance, privacy, and security. 

Sec. 113. Promoting accuracy of statewide voter registration lists. 

Sec. 114. Definitions. 

Sec. 115. Effective date. 

Subtitle C—Other Initiatives To Promote Voter Registration 

Sec. 121. Same day registration. 

Sec. 122. Acceptance of voter registration applications from individuals under 

18 years of age. 

Sec. 123. Annual reports on voter registration statistics. 

Subtitle D—Availability of HAVA Requirements Payments 

Sec. 131. Availability of requirements payments under HAVA to cover costs of 

compliance with new requirements. 


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Subtitle E—Prohibiting Interference With Voter Registration 

Sec. 141. Prohibiting hindering, interfering with, or preventing voter registration. 

Sec. 142. Establishment of best practices. 

TITLE II—ACCESS TO VOTING FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 

DISABILITIES 

Sec. 201. Requirements for States to promote access to voter registration and 

voting for individuals with disabilities. 

Sec. 202. Pilot programs for enabling individuals with disabilities to register to 

vote and vote privately and independently at residences. 

Sec. 203. Expansion and reauthorization of grant program to assure voting access for individuals with disabilities. 

TITLE III—PROHIBITING VOTER CAGING 

Sec. 301. Voter caging and other questionable challenges prohibited. 

Sec. 302. Development and adoption of best practices for preventing voter caging. 

Sec. 303. Severability. 

TITLE IV—PROHIBITING DECEPTIVE PRACTICES 

Sec. 401. Prohibition on deceptive practices in Federal elections. 

Sec. 402. Modification of penalty for voter intimidation. 

Sec. 403. Sentencing guidelines. 

Sec. 404. Reporting violations; corrective action. 

TITLE V—DEMOCRACY RESTORATION 

Sec. 501. Rights of citizens. 

Sec. 502. Enforcement. 

Sec. 503. Notification of restoration of voting rights. 

Sec. 504. Definitions. 

Sec. 505. Relation to other laws. 

Sec. 506. Federal prison funds. 

Sec. 507. Effective date. 

TITLE VI—ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECURITY OF ELECTIONS 

Sec. 600. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Promoting Accuracy, Integrity, and Security Through VoterVerified Permanent Paper Ballot 

Sec. 601. Paper ballot and manual counting requirements. 

Sec. 602. Accessibility and ballot verification for individuals with disabilities. 

Sec. 603. Durability and readability requirements for ballots. 

Sec. 604. Effective date for new requirements. 

Subtitle B—Requirement for Mandatory Manual Audits by Hand Count 

Sec. 611. Mandatory manual audits. 

‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual Audits 

‘‘Sec. 321. Requiring audits of results of elections. 


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‘‘Sec. 322. Number of ballots counted under audit. 

‘‘Sec. 323. Process for administering audits. 

‘‘Sec. 324. Selection of precincts. 

‘‘Sec. 325. Publication of results. 

‘‘Sec. 326. Payments to States. 

‘‘Sec. 327. Exception for elections subject to recount under State law prior 

to certification. 

‘‘Sec. 328. Effective date. 

Sec. 612. Availability of enforcement under Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

Sec. 613. Guidance on best practices for alternative audit mechanisms. 

Sec. 614. Clerical amendment. 

TITLE VII—PROVISIONAL BALLOTS 

Sec. 701. Requirements for counting provisional ballots; establishment of uniform and nondiscriminatory standards. 

TITLE VIII—EARLY VOTING AND VOTING BY MAIL 

Sec. 801. Early voting and voting by mail. 

TITLE IX—ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTERS AND 

OVERSEAS VOTERS 

Sec. 901. Extending guarantee of residency for voting purposes to family members of absent military personnel. 

Sec. 902. Pre-election reports on availability and transmission of absentee ballots. 

Sec. 903. Enforcement. 

Sec. 904. Revisions to 45-day absentee ballot transmission rule. 

Sec. 905. Use of single absentee ballot application for subsequent elections. 

Sec. 906. Effective date. 

TITLE X—POLL WORKER RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING 

Sec. 1001. Leave to serve as a poll worker for Federal employees. 

Sec. 1002. Grants to States for poll worker recruitment and training. 

Sec. 1003. Model poll worker training program. 

Sec. 1004. State defined. 

TITLE XI—ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 1101. Enhancement of enforcement of Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

TITLE XII—FEDERAL ELECTION INTEGRITY 

Sec. 1201. Prohibition on campaign activities by chief State election administration officials. 

TITLE XIII—OTHER ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENTS 

Sec. 1301. Treatment of universities as voter registration agencies. 

Sec. 1302. Minimum notification requirements for voters affected by polling 

place changes. 

Sec. 1303. Voter information response systems and hotline. 

Sec. 1304. Reauthorization of election assistance commission. 

Sec. 1305. Application of laws to Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. 


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Sec. 1306. Repeal of exemption of Election Assistance Commission from certain 

government contracting requirements. 

Sec. 1307. No effect on other laws. 

1 TITLE I—VOTER REGISTRATION 

2 MODERNIZATION 

3 SEC. 100. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Registration 

5 Modernization Act of 2017’’. 

6 Subtitle A—Promoting Internet 

7 Registration 

8 SEC. 101. REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR 

9 VOTER REGISTRATION. 

10 (a) REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR

11 REGISTRATION.—The National Voter Registration Act of 

12 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

13 after section 6 the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 6A. INTERNET REGISTRATION. 

15 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR

16 ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF ONLINE REGISTRA18 TION.—Each State, acting through the chief State 

19 election official, shall ensure that the following serv20 ices are available to the public at any time on the 

21 official public websites of the appropriate State and 

22 local election officials in the State, in the same man23 ner and subject to the same terms and conditions as 


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1 the services provided by voter registration agencies 

2 under section 7(a): 

3 ‘‘(A) Online application for voter registra4 tion. 

5 ‘‘(B) Online assistance to applicants in ap6 plying to register to vote. 

7 ‘‘(C) Online completion and submission by 

8 applicants of the mail voter registration applica9 tion form prescribed by the Election Assistance 

10 Commission pursuant to section 9(a)(2), includ11 ing assistance with providing a signature in 

12 electronic form as required under subsection 

13 (c). 

14 ‘‘(D) Online receipt of completed voter reg15 istration applications. 

16 ‘‘(b) ACCEPTANCE OF COMPLETED APPLICATIONS.— 

17 A State shall accept an online voter registration applica18 tion provided by an individual under this section, and en19 sure that the individual is registered to vote in the State, 

20 if— 

21 ‘‘(1) the individual meets the same voter reg22 istration requirements applicable to individuals who 

23 register to vote by mail in accordance with section 

24 6(a)(1) using the mail voter registration application 


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1 form prescribed by the Election Assistance Commis2 sion pursuant to section 9(a)(2); and 

3 ‘‘(2) the individual provides a signature in elec4 tronic form in accordance with subsection (c) (but 

5 only in the case of applications submitted during or 

6 after the second year in which this section is in ef7 fect in the State). 

8 ‘‘(c) SIGNATURES IN ELECTRONIC FORM.—For pur9 poses of this section, an individual provides a signature 

10 in electronic form by— 

11 ‘‘(1) executing a computerized mark in the sig12 nature field on an online voter registration applica13 tion; or 

14 ‘‘(2) submitting with the application an elec15 tronic copy of the individual’s handwritten signature 

16 through electronic means. 

17 ‘‘(d) CONFIRMATION AND DISPOSITION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT.—Upon the 

19 online submission of a completed voter registration 

20 application by an individual under this section, the 

21 appropriate State or local election official shall send 

22 the individual a notice confirming the State’s receipt 

23 of the application and providing instructions on how 

24 the individual may check the status of the applica25 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NOTICE OF DISPOSITION.—As soon as the 

2 appropriate State or local election official has ap3 proved or rejected an application submitted by an in4 dividual under this section, the official shall send the 

5 individual a notice of the disposition of the applica6 tion. 

7 ‘‘(3) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.—The appro8 priate State or local election official shall send the 

9 notices required under this subsection by regular 

10 mail, and, in the case of an individual who has re11 quested that the State provide voter registration and 

12 voting information through electronic mail, by both 

13 electronic mail and regular mail. 

14 ‘‘(e) PROVISION OF SERVICES IN NONPARTISAN

15 MANNER.—The services made available under subsection 

16 (a) shall be provided in a manner that ensures that, con17 sistent with section 7(a)(5)— 

18 ‘‘(1) the online application does not seek to in19 fluence an applicant’s political preference or party 

20 registration; and 

21 ‘‘(2) there is no display on the website pro22 moting any political preference or party allegiance, 

23 except that nothing in this paragraph may be con24 strued to prohibit an applicant from registering to 

25 vote as a member of a political party. 


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1 ‘‘(f) PROTECTION OF SECURITY OF INFORMATION.— 

2 In meeting the requirements of this section, the State shall 

3 establish appropriate technological security measures to 

4 prevent to the greatest extent practicable any unauthor5 ized access to information provided by individuals using 

6 the services made available under subsection (a). 

7 ‘‘(g) USE OF ADDITIONAL TELEPHONE-BASED SYS8 TEM.—A State shall make the services made available on9 line under subsection (a) available through the use of an 

10 automated telephone-based system, subject to the same 

11 terms and conditions applicable under this section to the 

12 services made available online, in addition to making the 

13 services available online in accordance with the require14 ments of this section. 

15 ‘‘(h) NONDISCRIMINATION AMONG REGISTERED

16 VOTERS USING MAIL AND ONLINE REGISTRATION.—In 

17 carrying out this Act, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 

18 or any other Federal, State, or local law governing the 

19 treatment of registered voters in the State or the adminis20 tration of elections for public office in the State, a State 

21 shall treat a registered voter who registered to vote online 

22 in accordance with this section in the same manner as the 

23 State treats a registered voter who registered to vote by 

24 mail.’’. 


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1 (b) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS

2 USING ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

3 (1) TREATMENT AS INDIVIDUALS REGISTERING

4 TO VOTE BY MAIL FOR PURPOSES OF FIRST-TIME

5 VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

6 303(b)(1)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

7 (52 U.S.C. 21083(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘by mail’’ and inserting ‘‘by mail or online under 

9 section 6A of the National Voter Registration Act of 

10 1993’’. 

11 (2) REQUIRING SIGNATURE FOR FIRST-TIME

12 VOTERS IN JURISDICTION.—Section 303(b) of such 

13 Act (52 U.S.C. 21083(b)) is amended— 

14 (A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

15 paragraph (6); and 

16 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

17 following new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(5) SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST19 TIME VOTERS USING ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State shall, in a 

21 uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, require 

22 an individual to meet the requirements of sub23 paragraph (B) if— 

24 ‘‘(i) the individual registered to vote 

25 in the State online under section 6A of the 


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1 National Voter Registration Act of 1993; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the individual has not previously 

4 voted in an election for Federal office in 

5 the State. 

6 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—An individual 

7 meets the requirements of this subparagraph 

8 if— 

9 ‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 

10 votes in person, the individual provides the 

11 appropriate State or local election official 

12 with a handwritten signature; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 

14 votes by mail, the individual submits with 

15 the ballot a handwritten signature. 

16 ‘‘(C) INAPPLICABILITY.—Subparagraph 

17 (A) does not apply in the case of an individual 

18 who is— 

19 ‘‘(i) entitled to vote by absentee ballot 

20 under the Uniformed and Overseas Citi21 zens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 

22 20302 et seq.); 

23 ‘‘(ii) provided the right to vote other24 wise than in person under section 

25 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Voting Accessibility 


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1 for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (52 

2 U.S.C. 20102(b)(2)(B)(ii)); or 

3 ‘‘(iii) entitled to vote otherwise than 

4 in person under any other Federal law.’’. 

5 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

6 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(2)(A) of such 

7 Act (52 U.S.C. 21083(d)(2)(A)) is amended by 

8 striking ‘‘Each State’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as pro9 vided in subsection (b)(5), each State’’. 

10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

11 (1) TIMING OF REGISTRATION.—Section 8(a)(1) 

12 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 

13 U.S.C. 20507(a)(1)) is amended— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub15 paragraph (C); 

16 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

17 subparagraph (E); and 

18 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

19 the following new subparagraph: 

20 ‘‘(D) in the case of online registration 

21 through the official public website of an election 

22 official under section 6A, if the valid voter reg23 istration application is submitted online not 

24 later than the lesser of 30 days, or the period 

25 provided by State law, before the date of the 


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1 election (as determined by treating the date on 

2 which the application is sent electronically as 

3 the date on which it is submitted); and’’. 

4 (2) INFORMING APPLICANTS OF ELIGIBILITY

5 REQUIREMENTS AND PENALTIES.—Section 8(a)(5) 

6 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20507(a)(5)) is amended by 

7 striking ‘‘and 7’’ and inserting ‘‘6A, and 7’’. 

8 SEC. 102. USE OF INTERNET TO UPDATE REGISTRATION IN9 FORMATION. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

11 (1) UPDATES TO INFORMATION CONTAINED ON

12 COMPUTERIZED STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION

13 LIST.—Section 303(a) of the Help America Vote Act 

14 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21083(a)) is amended by adding 

15 at the end the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(6) USE OF INTERNET BY REGISTERED VOT17 ERS TO UPDATE INFORMATION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The appropriate State 

19 or local election official shall ensure that any 

20 registered voter on the computerized list may at 

21 any time update the voter’s registration infor22 mation, including the voter’s address and elec23 tronic mail address, online through the official 

24 public website of the election official responsible 

25 for the maintenance of the list, so long as the 


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1 voter attests to the contents of the update by 

2 providing a signature in electronic form in the 

3 same manner required under section 6A(c) of 

4 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. 

5 ‘‘(B) PROCESSING OF UPDATED INFORMA6 TION BY ELECTION OFFICIALS.—If a registered 

7 voter updates registration information under 

8 subparagraph (A), the appropriate State or 

9 local election official shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) revise any information on the 

11 computerized list to reflect the update 

12 made by the voter; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) if the updated registration infor14 mation affects the voter’s eligibility to vote 

15 in an election for Federal office, ensure 

16 that the information is processed with re17 spect to the election if the voter updates 

18 the information not later than the lesser of 

19 7 days, or the period provided by State 

20 law, before the date of the election. 

21 ‘‘(C) CONFIRMATION AND DISPOSITION.— 

22 ‘‘(i) CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT.— 

23 Upon the online submission of updated 

24 registration information by an individual 

25 under this paragraph, the appropriate 


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1 State or local election official shall send 

2 the individual a notice confirming the 

3 State’s receipt of the updated information 

4 and providing instructions on how the indi5 vidual may check the status of the update. 

6 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE OF DISPOSITION.—As 

7 soon as the appropriate State or local elec8 tion official has accepted or rejected up9 dated information submitted by an indi10 vidual under this paragraph, the official 

11 shall send the individual a notice of the 

12 disposition of the update. 

13 ‘‘(iii) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.— 

14 The appropriate State or local election offi15 cial shall send the notices required under 

16 this subparagraph by regular mail, and, in 

17 the case of an individual who has re18 quested that the State provide voter reg19 istration and voting information through 

20 electronic mail, by both electronic mail and 

21 regular mail.’’. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

23 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(1)(A) of such 

24 Act (52 U.S.C. 21083(d)(1)(A)) is amended by 


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1 striking ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub2 paragraph (B) and subsection (a)(6)’’. 

3 (b) ABILITY OF REGISTRANT TO USE ONLINE UP4 DATE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON RESIDENCE.—Sec5 tion 8(d)(2)(A) of the National Voter Registration Act of 

6 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(d)(2)(A)) is amended— 

7 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting after ‘‘re8 turn the card’’ the following: ‘‘or update the reg9 istrant’s information on the computerized Statewide 

10 voter registration list using the online method pro11 vided under section 303(a)(6) of the Help America 

12 Vote Act of 2002’’; and 

13 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘re14 turned,’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘returned or if 

15 the registrant does not update the registrant’s infor16 mation on the computerized Statewide voter reg17 istration list using such online method,’’. 

18 SEC. 103. PROVISION OF ELECTION INFORMATION BY 

19 ELECTRONIC MAIL TO INDIVIDUALS REG20 ISTERED TO VOTE. 

21 (a) INCLUDING OPTION ON VOTER REGISTRATION

22 APPLICATION TO PROVIDE E–MAIL ADDRESS AND RE23 CEIVE INFORMATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(b) of the National 

2 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

3 20508(b)) is amended— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para5 graph (3); 

6 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

7 paragraph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(5) shall include a space for the applicant to 

11 provide (at the applicant’s option) an electronic mail 

12 address, together with a statement that, if the appli13 cant so requests, instead of using regular mail the 

14 appropriate State and local election officials shall 

15 provide to the applicant, through electronic mail sent 

16 to that address, the same voting information (as de17 fined in section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote 

18 Act of 2002) which the officials would provide to the 

19 applicant through regular mail.’’. 

20 (2) PROHIBITING USE FOR PURPOSES UNRE21 LATED TO OFFICIAL DUTIES OF ELECTION OFFI22 CIALS.—Section 9 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20508) is 

23 amended by adding at the end the following new 

24 subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITING USE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL AD2 DRESSES FOR OTHER THAN OFFICIAL PURPOSES.—The 

3 chief State election official shall ensure that any electronic 

4 mail address provided by an applicant under subsection 

5 (b)(5) is used only for purposes of carrying out official 

6 duties of election officials and is not transmitted by any 

7 State or local election official (or any agent of such an 

8 official, including a contractor) to any person who does 

9 not require the address to carry out such official duties 

10 and who is not under the direct supervision and control 

11 of a State or local election official.’’. 

12 (b) REQUIRING PROVISION OF INFORMATION BY

13 ELECTION OFFICIALS.—Section 302(b) of the Help Amer14 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)) is amended 

15 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(3) PROVISION OF OTHER INFORMATION BY

17 ELECTRONIC MAIL.—If an individual who is a reg18 istered voter has provided the State or local election 

19 official with an electronic mail address for the pur20 pose of receiving voting information (as described in 

21 section 9(b)(5) of the National Voter Registration 

22 Act of 1993), the appropriate State or local election 

23 official, through electronic mail transmitted not later 

24 than 7 days before the date of the election involved, 

25 shall provide the individual with information on how 


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1 to obtain the following information by electronic 

2 means: 

3 ‘‘(A) The name and address of the polling 

4 place at which the individual is assigned to vote 

5 in the election. 

6 ‘‘(B) The hours of operation for the polling 

7 place. 

8 ‘‘(C) A description of any identification or 

9 other information the individual may be re10 quired to present at the polling place.’’. 

11 SEC. 104. CLARIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT REGARDING 

12 NECESSARY INFORMATION TO SHOW ELIGI13 BILITY TO VOTE. 

14 Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 

15 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub17 section (k); and 

18 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol19 lowing new subsection: 

20 ‘‘(j) REQUIREMENT FOR STATE TO REGISTER APPLI21 CANTS PROVIDING NECESSARY INFORMATION TO SHOW

22 ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE.—For purposes meeting the re23 quirement of subsection (a)(1) that an eligible applicant 

24 is registered to vote in an election for Federal office within 

25 the deadlines required under such subsection, the State 


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1 shall consider an applicant to have provided a ‘valid voter 

2 registration form’ if— 

3 ‘‘(1) the applicant has accurately completed the 

4 application form and attested to the statement re5 quired by section 9(b)(2); and 

6 ‘‘(2) in the case of an applicant who registers 

7 to vote online in accordance with section 6A, the ap8 plicant provides a signature in accordance with sub9 section (c) of such section.’’. 

10 SEC. 105. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

12 (b), the amendments made by this subtitle (other than the 

13 amendments made by section 104) shall take effect Janu14 ary 1, 2018. 

15 (b) WAIVER.—Subject to the approval of the Election 

16 Assistance Commission, if a State certifies to the Election 

17 Assistance Commission that the State will not meet the 

18 deadline referred to in subsection (a) because of extraor19 dinary circumstances and includes in the certification the 

20 reasons for the failure to meet the deadline, subsection 

21 (a) shall apply to the State as if the reference in such 

22 subsection to ‘‘January 1, 2018’’ were a reference to 

23 ‘‘January 1, 2020’’. 


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1 Subtitle B—Automated 

2 Registration of Certain Individuals 

3 SEC. 111. AUTOMATED VOTER REGISTRATION. 

4 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION BY SOURCE

5 AGENCIES.— 

6 (1) DUTIES OF SOURCE AGENCIES.—Each 

7 source agency in a State (as defined in subsection 

8 (e)) shall, with each application for services or as9 sistance by an individual, and with each recertifi10 cation, renewal, or change of address relating to 

11 such services or assistance— 

12 (A) notify each such individual of the sub13 stantive qualifications of an elector in the State, 

14 using language approved by the State’s chief 

15 election official; 

16 (B) notify each such individual that there 

17 is an opportunity to be registered to vote or up18 date voter registration, but that voter registra19 tion is voluntary, and that neither registering 

20 nor declining to register to vote will in any way 

21 affect the availability of services or benefits, nor 

22 be used for other purposes; 

23 (C) require that each such individual indi24 cate, after considering the substantive qualificaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 tion of an elector in the State, whether or not 

2 the person wishes to be registered; 

3 (D) ensure that each such individual’s 

4 transaction with the agency cannot be com5 pleted until the individual has indicated whether 

6 he or she wishes to register to vote; and 

7 (E) for each such individual who consents 

8 to using the individual’s records with the source 

9 agency to enable the individual to register to 

10 vote under this section, collect a signed affirma11 tion of eligibility to register to vote in the State. 

12 (2) NO EFFECT ON RIGHT TO DECLINE VOTER

13 REGISTRATION.—Nothing in this subtitle shall be 

14 construed to interfere with the right of any person 

15 to decline to be registered to vote for any reason. 

16 (b) TRANSFER OF INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUALS

17 CONSENTING TO VOTER REGISTRATION.— 

18 (1) TRANSFER.—For each individual who noti19 fies the source agency that the individual consents to 

20 voter registration under this section, the source 

21 agency shall transfer to the chief State election offi22 cial of the State the following data, to the extent the 

23 data is available to the source agency: 

24 (A) The given name or names and sur25 name or surnames. 


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1 (B) Date of birth. 

2 (C) Residential address. 

3 (D) Mailing address. 

4 (E) Signature, in electronic form. 

5 (F) Date of the last change to the infor6 mation. 

7 (G) The motor vehicle driver’s license 

8 number. 

9 (H) The last four digits of the Social Secu10 rity number. 

11 (2) TIMING OF TRANSFER.—The source agency 

12 shall transfer the data described in paragraph (1) to 

13 the chief State election official on a daily basis. 

14 (3) FORMAT.—The data transferred under 

15 paragraph (1) shall be transferred in a format com16 patible with the Statewide computerized voter reg17 istration list under section 303 of the Help America 

18 Vote Act of 2002. 

19 (4) PROHIBITING STORAGE OF INFORMATION.— 

20 Any information collected by the source agency 

21 under this section with respect to an individual who 

22 consents to register to vote under this section may 

23 not be stored by the source agency in any form after 

24 the information is transferred to the chief State elec25 tion official under paragraph (1). 


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1 (c) REGISTRATION OF INDIVIDUALS BY CHIEF STATE

2 ELECTION OFFICIAL.— 

3 (1) COMPARISON WITH STATEWIDE VOTER REG4 ISTRATION LIST.—Upon receiving information from 

5 a source agency with respect to an individual under 

6 subsection (b), the chief State election official shall 

7 determine whether the individual is included in the 

8 computerized Statewide voter registration list estab9 lished and maintained under section 303 of the Help 

10 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21083). 

11 (2) REGISTRATION OF INDIVIDUALS NOT ON

12 STATEWIDE LIST.—If an individual for whom infor13 mation is received from a source agency under sub14 section (b) is eligible to vote in elections for Federal 

15 office in the State and is not on the computerized 

16 Statewide voter registration list, the chief State elec17 tion official shall— 

18 (A) ensure that the individual is registered 

19 to vote in such elections not later than 5 days 

20 after receiving the information, without regard 

21 to whether or not the information provided by 

22 the source agency includes the individual’s sig23 nature; 


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1 (B) update the Statewide computerized 

2 voter registration list to include the individual; 

3 and 

4 (C) notify the individual that the individual 

5 is registered to vote in elections for Federal of6 fice in the State. 

7 (3) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION INCOR8 RECTLY PROVIDED.—If a source agency provides the 

9 chief State election official with information with re10 spect to an individual who did not consent to be reg11 istered to vote under this section, the chief State 

12 election official shall not take any action to register 

13 the individual to vote, except that no such individual 

14 who is already included on the computerized State15 wide voter registration list shall be removed from the 

16 list solely because the information was incorrectly 

17 provided under subsection (b). 

18 (4) NO EFFECT ON OTHER MEANS OF REG19 ISTRATION.—Nothing in this section affects a 

20 State’s obligation to register voters upon receipt of 

21 a valid voter registration application through means 

22 provided by National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

23 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.), the internet registration 

24 procedure described in subtitle A, or other valid 

25 means. 


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1 (5) INDIVIDUALS IN EXISTING RECORDS.—No 

2 later than January 2019, each individual who is list3 ed in a source agency’s records and for whom there 

4 exists reason to believe the individual is a citizen 

5 and not otherwise ineligible to vote shall be mailed 

6 a postage pre-paid return postcard including a box 

7 for the individual to check, together with the state8 ment (in close proximity to the box and in promi9 nent type), ‘‘By checking this box, I affirm that I 

10 am a citizen of the United States, am eligible to vote 

11 in this State, and will be at least eighteen years old 

12 by the next general election. I understand that by 

13 checking this box, I will be registered to vote if I am 

14 eligible to vote in the State.’’, along with a clear de15 scription of the voting eligibility requirements in the 

16 State. The postcard shall also include, where re17 quired for voter registration, a place for the individ18 ual’s signature and designation of party affiliation. 

19 An individual who checks the box and returns the 

20 completed postcard postmarked not later than the 

21 lesser of the fifteenth day before an election for Fed22 eral office, or the period provided by State law, shall 

23 be registered to vote in that election. 


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1 (d) OPTIONS FOR STATE TO REQUIRE SPECIAL

2 TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS REGISTERED AUTOMATI3 CALLY.— 

4 (1) TREATMENT AS INDIVIDUALS REGISTERING

5 TO VOTE BY MAIL FOR PURPOSES OF FIRST-TIME

6 VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

7 303(b)(1)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

8 (52 U.S.C. 21083(b)(1)(A)), as amended by section 

9 101(b)(1), is amended by striking ‘‘of 1993’’ and in10 serting ‘‘of 1993 or (at the option of the State) was 

11 registered automatically under section 111 of the 

12 Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2017’’. 

13 (2) REQUIRING SIGNATURE.—Section 303(b) of 

14 such Act (52 U.S.C. 21083(b)), as amended by sec15 tion 101(b)(2), is amended— 

16 (A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 

17 paragraph (7); and 

18 (B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the 

19 following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(5) OPTION FOR STATE TO REQUIRE SIGNA21 TURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST-TIME VOTERS REG22 ISTERED AUTOMATICALLY.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State may, in a uni24 form and nondiscriminatory manner, require an 


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1 individual to meet the requirements of subpara2 graph (B) if— 

3 ‘‘(i) the individual was registered to 

4 vote in the State automatically under sec5 tion 111 of the Voter Registration Mod6 ernization Act of 2017; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) the individual has not previously 

8 voted in an election for Federal office in 

9 the State. 

10 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—An individual 

11 meets the requirements of this subparagraph 

12 if— 

13 ‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 

14 votes in person, the individual provides the 

15 appropriate State or local election official 

16 with a handwritten signature; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 

18 votes by mail, the individual submits with 

19 the ballot a handwritten signature. 

20 ‘‘(C) INAPPLICABILITY.—Subparagraph 

21 (A) does not apply in the case of an individual 

22 who is— 

23 ‘‘(i) entitled to vote by absentee ballot 

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1 zens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 

2 20302 et seq.); 

3 ‘‘(ii) provided the right to vote other4 wise than in person under section 

5 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Voting Accessibility 

6 for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (52 

7 U.S.C. 20102(b)(2)(B)(ii)); or 

8 ‘‘(iii) entitled to vote otherwise than 

9 in person under any other Federal law.’’. 

10 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

11 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(2)(A) of such 

12 Act (52 U.S.C. 21083(d)(2)(A)), as amended by sec13 tion 101(b)(3), is amended by striking ‘‘subsection 

14 (b)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b)(5) and 

15 (b)(6)’’. 

16 (e) SOURCE AGENCIES DESCRIBED.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any State, a 

18 ‘‘source agency’’ is— 

19 (A) each State office which is described in 

20 paragraph (2); and 

21 (B) each Federal office which is described 

22 in paragraph (3) which is located in the State, 

23 except that such office shall be a source agency 

24 only with respect to individuals who are resi25 dents of the State in which the office is located. 


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1 (2) STATE OFFICES DESCRIBED.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The State offices de3 scribed in this paragraph are as follows: 

4 (i) The State motor vehicle authority. 

5 (ii) Each office in the State which is 

6 designated as a voter registration agency 

7 in a State pursuant to section 7(a) of the 

8 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

9 (52 U.S.C. 20506(a)). 

10 (iii) Each State agency that admin11 isters a program providing assistance pur12 suant to pursuant to title III of the Social 

13 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 501 et seq.). 

14 (iv) Each State agency primarily re15 sponsible for maintaining identifying infor16 mation for students enrolled at public sec17 ondary schools in the State, including, 

18 where applicable, the State agency respon19 sible for maintaining the education data 

20 system described in section 6401(e)(2) of 

21 the America COMPETES Act (20 U.S.C. 

22 9871(e)(2)). 

23 (v) In the case of a State in which an 

24 individual disenfranchised by a criminal 

25 conviction may become eligible to vote 


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1 upon completion of criminal sentence or 

2 any part thereof, or upon formal restora3 tion of rights, the State agency responsible 

4 for administering that sentence, or part 

5 thereof, or that restoration of rights. 

6 (vi) In the case of a State in which an 

7 individual disenfranchised by adjudication 

8 of mental incompetence or similar condi9 tion becomes eligible to register to vote 

10 upon the restoration of competence or 

11 similar condition, each State agency re12 sponsible for determining when competence 

13 or a similar condition is met. 

14 (vii) Such other office which may be 

15 designated as a source agency by the chief 

16 State election official of the State. 

17 (B) CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION OF ADDI18 TIONAL SOURCE AGENCIES.—In designating of19 fices of the State as source agencies for pur20 poses of subparagraph (A)(vii), the chief State 

21 election official shall give priority on the basis 

22 of the following criteria: 

23 (i) The extent to which individuals re24 ceiving services or assistance from the of25 fice are likely to be individuals who are eliVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 gible to register to vote in elections for 

2 Federal office in the State but who are not 

3 registered to vote in such elections. 

4 (ii) The accuracy of the office’s 

5 records with respect to identifying informa6 tion (including age, citizenship status, and 

7 residency) for individuals receiving services 

8 or assistance from the office. 

9 (iii) The cost-effectiveness of obtain10 ing such identifying information and trans11 mitting the information to the chief State 

12 election official. 

13 (iv) The extent to which the designa14 tion of the office as a voter registration 

15 agency will promote the registration of eli16 gible individuals to vote in elections for 

17 Federal office in the State and the accu18 racy of the State’s Statewide computerized 

19 voter registration list under the Help 

20 America Vote Act of 2002. 

21 (3) FEDERAL OFFICES DESCRIBED.—The Fed22 eral offices described in this paragraph are as fol23 lows: 

24 (A) Armed Forces recruitment offices. 


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1 (B) The United States Immigration and 

2 Customs Enforcement Bureau, but only with 

3 respect to individuals who complete the natu4 ralization process. 

5 (C) The Social Security Administration. 

6 (D) The Administrative Office of the 

7 United States Courts, the Federal Bureau of 

8 Prisons, and the United States Probation Serv9 ice, but only with respect to individuals com10 pleting terms of prison, sentences, probation, or 

11 parole. 

12 (E) The Department of Veterans Affairs, 

13 but only with respect to individuals applying for 

14 or using health care services or services for 

15 homeless individuals. 

16 (F) The Defense Manpower Data Center 

17 of the Department of Defense. 

18 (G) The Indian Health Services of the De19 partment of Health and Human Services. 

20 (H) The Center for Medicare and Medicaid 

21 Services of the Department of Health and 

22 Human Services. 

23 (I) Any other Federal office which des24 ignated by a State (with the consent of the 


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1 President) as a source agency with respect to 

2 the State. 

3 SEC. 112. LIST MAINTENANCE, PRIVACY, AND SECURITY. 

4 (a) DATABASE MANAGEMENT STANDARDS.— 

5 (1) DATABASE MATCHING STANDARDS.—The 

6 chief State election official of each State shall estab7 lish standards governing the comparison of data on 

8 the Statewide computerized voter registration list 

9 under section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 

10 2002, the data provided by various source agencies 

11 under section 111, and relevant data from other 

12 sources, including the specific data elements and 

13 data matching rules to be used for purposes of de14 termining— 

15 (A) whether a data record from any source 

16 agency represents the same individual as a 

17 record in another source agency or on the 

18 Statewide list; 

19 (B) whether a data record from any source 

20 agency represents an individual already reg21 istered to vote in the State; 

22 (C) whether two data records in the State23 wide computerized voter registration list rep24 resent duplicate records for the same individual; 


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1 (D) whether a data record supplied by any 

2 list maintenance source represents an individual 

3 already registered to vote in the State; and 

4 (E) which information will be treated as 

5 more current and reliable when data records 

6 from multiple sources present information for 

7 the same individual. 

8 (2) STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING INELIGI9 BILITY.—The chief State election official of a State 

10 shall establish uniform and non-discriminatory 

11 standards describing the specific conditions under 

12 which an individual will be determined for list main13 tenance purposes to be ineligible to vote in an elec14 tion for Federal office in the State. 

15 (b) PRIVACY AND SECURITY STANDARDS.— 

16 (1) PRIVACY AND SECURITY POLICY.—The chief 

17 State election official of a State shall publish and 

18 enforce a privacy and security policy specifying each 

19 class of users who shall have authorized access to 

20 the computerized Statewide voter registration list, 

21 specifying for each such class the permission and 

22 levels of access to be granted, and setting forth 

23 other safeguards to protect the privacy and security 

24 of the information on the list. Such policy shall in25 clude security safeguards to protect personal inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 mation in the data transfer process under section 

2 111, the online or telephone interface, the mainte3 nance of the voter registration database, and audit 

4 procedure to track individual access to the system. 

5 (2) NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.—The chief 

6 election official of a State shall establish policies and 

7 enforcement procedures to prevent unauthorized ac8 cess to or use of the computerized Statewide voter 

9 registration list, any list or other information pro10 vided by a source agency under section 111, or any 

11 maintenance source for the list. Nothing in this 

12 paragraph shall be construed to prohibit access to 

13 information required for official purposes for pur14 poses of voter registration, election administration, 

15 and the enforcement of election laws. 

16 (3) INTER-AGENCY TRANSFERS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The chief election offi18 cial of a State shall establish policies and en19 forcement procedures to maintain security dur20 ing inter-agency transfers of information re21 quired or permitted under this subtitle. Each 

22 State agency and third party participating in 

23 such inter-agency transfers of information shall 

24 facilitate and comply with such policies. Noth25 ing in this subparagraph shall prevent a source 


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1 agency under section 111 from establishing and 

2 enforcing additional security measures to pro3 tect the confidentiality and integrity of inter4 agency data transfers. No State or local election 

5 official shall transfer or facilitate the transfer 

6 of information from the computerized Statewide 

7 voter registration list to any source agency 

8 under section 111. 

9 (B) TRANSMISSION THROUGH SECURE

10 THIRD PARTIES PERMITTED.—Nothing in this 

11 section shall be construed to prevent a source 

12 agency under section 111 from contracting with 

13 a third party to assist in the transmission of 

14 data to a chief State election official, so long as 

15 the data transmission complies with the appli16 cable requirements of this subtitle, including 

17 the privacy and security provisions of this sec18 tion. 

19 (4) RECORDS RETENTION.—The chief State 

20 election official of a State shall establish standards 

21 and procedures to maintain all election records re22 quired for purposes of this subtitle, including for the 

23 purpose of determining the eligibility of persons 

24 casting provisional ballots under section 302 of the 

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1 uals who have been retained on the computerized 

2 Statewide voter registration list under section 301 of 

3 such Act but identified as ineligible to vote in an 

4 election for Federal office within the State, or re5 moved from the list due to ineligibility, shall be 

6 maintained and kept available until at least the date 

7 of the second general election for Federal office that 

8 occurs after the date that the individual was identi9 fied as ineligible. 

10 (c) PUBLICATION OF STANDARDS.—The chief State 

11 election official of a State shall publish on the official’s 

12 website the standards established under this section, and 

13 shall make those standards available in written form upon 

14 public request. 

15 (d) PROTECTION OF SOURCE INFORMATION.—The 

16 identity of the specific source agency through which an 

17 individual consented to register to vote under section 111 

18 shall not be disclosed to the public and shall not be re19 tained after the individual is added to the computerized 

20 Statewide voter registration list. 

21 (e) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—The chief 

22 State election official of a State shall establish policies and 

23 enforcement procedures to ensure that personal informa24 tion provided by source agencies or otherwise transmitted 

25 under this section is kept confidential and is available only 


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1 to authorized users. For purposes of these policies and 

2 procedures, the term ‘‘personal information’’ means any 

3 of the following: 

4 (1) Any portion of an individual’s Social Secu5 rity number. 

6 (2) Any portion of an individual’s motor vehicle 

7 driver’s license number or State identification card 

8 number. 

9 (3) An individual’s signature. 

10 (4) An individual’s personal residence and con11 tact information (in the case of individuals with re12 spect to whom such information is required to be 

13 maintained as confidential under State law). 

14 (5) Sensitive information relating to persons in 

15 categories designated confidential by Federal or 

16 State law, including victims of domestic violence or 

17 stalking, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel, 

18 and participants in a witness protection program. 

19 (6) An individual’s phone number. 

20 (7) An individual’s email address. 

21 (8) Any indication of an individual’s status as 

22 a citizen or noncitizen of the United States. 

23 (9) Such other information as the chief State 

24 election official may designate as confidential to the 

25 extent reasonably necessary to prevent identity theft 


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1 or impersonation, except that the chief State election 

2 official may not designate as confidential under this 

3 subparagraph the name, address, or date of registra4 tion of an individual, or, where applicable, the self5 identified racial or ethnic category of the individual 

6 as applicable under Revisions to OMB Directive 

7 Number 15 or successor directives. 

8 (f) PROTECTIONS AGAINST LIABILITY OF INDIVID9 UALS ON BASIS OF INFORMATION TRANSFERRED.— 

10 (1) NO INDIVIDUAL LIABILITY FOR REGISTRA11 TION OF INELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—If an individual 

12 who is not eligible to register to vote in elections for 

13 Federal office is registered to vote in such elections 

14 by a chief State election official under section 111, 

15 the individual shall not be subject to any penalty, in16 cluding the imposition of a fine or term of imprison17 ment, adverse treatment in any immigration or nat18 uralization proceeding, or the denial of any status 

19 under immigration laws, under any law prohibiting 

20 an individual who is not eligible to register to vote 

21 in elections for Federal office from registering to 

22 vote in such elections. Nothing in this paragraph 

23 shall be construed to waive the liability of any indi24 vidual who knowingly provides false information to 

25 any person regarding the individual’s eligibility to 


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1 register to vote or vote in elections for Federal of2 fice. 

3 (2) PROHIBITING USE OF INFORMATION BY OF4 FICIALS.—No person acting under color of law may 

5 use the information received by the chief State elec6 tion official under section 111 to attempt to deter7 mine the citizenship status of any individual for im8 migration enforcement, criminal law enforcement 

9 (other than enforcement of election laws), or any 

10 purpose other than voter registration, election ad11 ministration, or the enforcement of election laws. 

12 (g) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF INFORMATION

13 IRRELEVANT TO ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.—No 

14 source agency shall transmit any information under sec15 tion 111 which is irrelevant to the administration of elec16 tions. To the extent that an election official receives any 

17 information which is accidentally or inadvertently trans18 ferred by a source agency under such section, the official 

19 shall immediately delete the information from the official’s 

20 records. 

21 (h) RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No in22 formation relating to an individual’s absence from the 

23 Statewide voter registration list under section 303 of the 

24 Help America Vote Act of 2002 or an individual’s declina25 tion to supply information for voter registration purposes 


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1 to a source agency under section 111 may be disclosed 

2 to the public for immigration enforcement, criminal law 

3 enforcement other than enforcement of laws against elec4 tion crimes, or used for any purpose other than voter reg5 istration, election administration, or the enforcement of 

6 election laws. 

7 (i) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No person acting under 

8 color of law may discriminate against any individual on 

9 the basis of the individual’s absence from the statewide 

10 voter registration list, the information supplied by the in11 dividual for voter registration purpose to a source agency 

12 under section 111, or the individual’s declination to supply 

13 such information, except as required for purposes of voter 

14 registration, election administration, and the enforcement 

15 of election laws. 

16 (j) PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF VOTER REGISTRA17 TION INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL OR NONGOVERN18 MENTAL PURPOSES.—Voter registration information col19 lected under this subtitle shall not be used for commercial 

20 purposes including for comparison with any existing com21 mercial list or database. 

22 (k) PENALTY.—Whoever knowingly uses information 

23 or permits information to be used in violation of this sec24 tion shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 year, fined 

25 under title 18, United States Code, or both. 


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1 (l) EXCLUSION FROM LISTS OF INDIVIDUALS DE2 CLINING REGISTRATION.—The chief State election official 

3 of a State shall ensure that, with respect to any individual 

4 who declines the opportunity to register to vote under sec5 tion 111, the individual’s information is not included on 

6 the computerized Statewide voter registration list under 

7 section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and 

8 is not provided to any third party (except to the extent 

9 required under other law). Nothing in this subsection shall 

10 be construed to preclude an individual who has previously 

11 declined the opportunity to register to vote from subse12 quently registering to vote. 

13 (m) ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR CARRYING OUT

14 LIST SECURITY, MAINTENANCE, AND PRIVACY REQUIRE15 MENTS.— 

16 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.—Section 

17 257(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

18 U.S.C. 21007(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

19 the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2018, such sums as may be 

21 necessary for such payments, except that a State 

22 may use a requirement payment made with funds 

23 authorized under this paragraph solely to upgrade 

24 the security of the State’s voter registration lists and 

25 voter registration processes and to carry out other 


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•S 1437 IS

1 activities necessary to meet the requirements of sec2 tion 303(a)(3) (relating to the technological security 

3 of the State’s computerized voter registration list) 

4 and the requirements of the Voter Registration Mod5 ernization Act of 2017.’’. 

6 (2) WAIVER OF 5 PERCENT MATCH REQUIRE7 MENT.—Section 253(b)(5) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

8 21003(b)(5)) is amended— 

9 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub10 paragraph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs 

11 (B) and (C)’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

13 subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(C) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply for pur15 poses of determining the eligibility of a State to re16 ceive a requirements payment appropriated pursuant 

17 to the authorization provided under section 

18 257(a)(5) of this title for fiscal year 2018.’’. 

19 SEC. 113. PROMOTING ACCURACY OF STATEWIDE VOTER 

20 REGISTRATION LISTS. 

21 (a) DEADLINES FOR TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF

22 ADDRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.— 

23 (1) INFORMATION RECEIVED BY STATE MOTOR

24 VEHICLE AUTHORITY.—Section 5(d) of the National 


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1 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

2 20504(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(d) AUTOMATIC TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF AD4 DRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.—Not 

5 later than 24 hours after receiving a change of address 

6 form or any other information indicating that identifying 

7 information with respect to an individual which is included 

8 in the records of the State motor vehicle authority has 

9 been changed, the State motor vehicle authority shall 

10 transmit such form or other information to the chief State 

11 election official, unless— 

12 ‘‘(1) the records of the authority include infor13 mation indicating that the individual is not eligible 

14 to register to vote in the State; or 

15 ‘‘(2) the individual States on the form or other16 wise indicates that the change of address or other 

17 information is not for voter registration purposes.’’. 

18 (2) INFORMATION RECEIVED BY OTHER VOTER

19 REGISTRATION AGENCIES.—Section 7 of such Act 

20 (52 U.S.C. 20506) is amended by adding at the end 

21 the following new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(e) AUTOMATIC TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF AD23 DRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.—Not 

24 later than 24 hours after receiving a change of address 

25 form or any other information indicating that identifying 


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1 information with respect to an individual which is included 

2 in the records of a voter registration agency designated 

3 under this section has been changed, the appropriate offi4 cial of such agency shall transmit such form or other in5 formation to the chief State election official, unless— 

6 ‘‘(1) the records of the agency include informa7 tion indicating that the individual is not eligible to 

8 register to vote in the State; or 

9 ‘‘(2) the individual States on the form or other10 wise indicates that the change of address or other 

11 information is not for voter registration purposes.’’. 

12 (3) INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM SOURCE

13 AGENCIES.—Not later than 24 hours after receiving 

14 a change of address form or any other information 

15 indicating that identifying information with respect 

16 to an individual which is included in the records of 

17 a source agency designated under section 111 has 

18 been changed, the appropriate official of such agency 

19 shall transmit such form or other information to the 

20 chief State election official, unless— 

21 (A) the records of the agency include infor22 mation indicating that the individual is not eli23 gible to register to vote in the State; or 

24 (B) the individual States on the form or 

25 otherwise indicates that the change of address 


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1 or other information is not for voter registra2 tion purposes. 

3 (b) REVISION OF STATEWIDE COMPUTERIZED LIST

4 TO REFLECT REVISED INFORMATION.—Section 303(a) of 

5 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21083(a)), 

6 as amended by section 102(a), is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(7) REVISION OF LIST TO REFLECT INFORMA9 TION RECEIVED FROM OTHER STATE OFFICES.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State motor vehi11 cle authority (pursuant to section 5(d) of the 

12 National Voter Registration Act of 1993) a 

13 voter registration agency (designated under sec14 tion 7 of such Act), or a source agency (des15 ignated under section 111 of the Voter Reg16 istration Modernization Act of 2017) transmits 

17 to the chief State election official a change of 

18 address form or any other information indi19 cating that identifying information with respect 

20 to an individual has been changed, the appro21 priate State or local election official shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) determine whether the individual 

23 appears on the computerized list estab24 lished under this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) if the individual appears on the 

2 list, revise the information relating to the 

3 individual on the list to reflect the individ4 ual’s new address or other changed identi5 fying information. 

6 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION TO VOTERS.—If an 

7 election official revises any voter registration in8 formation on the computerized list with respect 

9 to any voter (including removing the voter from 

10 the list), immediately after revising the infor11 mation, the official shall send the individual a 

12 written notice of the revision which includes the 

13 following information: 

14 ‘‘(i) The voter’s name, date of birth, 

15 and address, as reflected in the revised in16 formation on the computerized list. 

17 ‘‘(ii) A statement that the voter’s 

18 voter registration information has been up19 dated. 

20 ‘‘(iii) Information on how to correct 

21 information on the computerized list. 

22 ‘‘(iv) A statement of the eligibility re23 quirements for registered voters in the 

24 State. 


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1 ‘‘(v) A statement (in larger font size 

2 than the other statements on the notice) 

3 that it is illegal for an individual who does 

4 not meet the eligibility requirements for 

5 registered voters in the State to vote in an 

6 election in the State. 

7 ‘‘(vi) A statement that the voter may 

8 terminate the voter’s status as a registered 

9 voter in the State, or request a change in 

10 the voter’s voter registration information, 

11 at any time by contacting the appropriate 

12 State or local election official, together 

13 with contact information for such official 

14 (including any website through which the 

15 voter may contact the official or obtain in16 formation on voter registration in the 

17 State). 

18 ‘‘(C) USE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL.—If an 

19 election official has an electronic mail address 

20 for any voter to whom the official is required to 

21 send a written notice under this paragraph, the 

22 official may meet the requirements of this para23 graph by sending the notice to the voter in elec24 tronic form at that address, but only if prior to 

25 sending the notice, the official sends a test elecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 tronic mail to the voter at that address and re2 ceives confirmation that the address is current 

3 and valid.’’. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply with respect to elections occurring 

6 during 2018 or any succeeding year. 

7 SEC. 114. DEFINITIONS. 

8 (a) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—In this sub9 title, the ‘‘chief State election official’’ means, with respect 

10 to a State, the individual designated by the State under 

11 section 10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

12 (52 U.S.C. 20509) to be responsible for coordination of 

13 the State’s responsibilities under such Act. 

14 (b) STATE.—In this subtitle, a ‘‘State’’ includes the 

15 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

16 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

17 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

18 Islands, but does not include any State in which, under 

19 a State law in effect continuously on and after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act, there is no voter registration 

21 requirement for individuals in the State with respect to 

22 elections for Federal office. 

23 SEC. 115. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

24 This subtitle and the amendments made by this sub25 title shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 


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1 general election for Federal office held in November 2018 

2 and each succeeding election for Federal office. 

3 Subtitle C—Other Initiatives To 

4 Promote Voter Registration 

5 SEC. 121. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 

7 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 

9 sections 305 and 306; and 

10 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 

11 new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 304. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 ‘‘(1) REGISTRATION.—Notwithstanding section 

15 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act of 

16 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(a)(1)(D)), each State shall 

17 permit any eligible individual on the day of a Fed18 eral election and on any day when voting, including 

19 early voting, is permitted for a Federal election— 

20 ‘‘(A) to register to vote in such election at 

21 the polling place using a form that meets the 

22 requirements under section 9(b) of the National 

23 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (or, if the indi24 vidual is already registered to vote, to revise 


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1 any of the individual’s voter registration infor2 mation); and 

3 ‘‘(B) to cast a vote in such election. 

4 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under 

5 paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State in which, 

6 under a State law in effect continuously on and after 

7 the date of the enactment of this section, there is no 

8 voter registration requirement for individuals in the 

9 State with respect to elections for Federal office. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this 

11 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means, with respect 

12 to any election for Federal office, an individual who is oth13 erwise qualified to vote in that election. 

14 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re15 quired to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) 

16 for the regularly scheduled general election for Federal of17 fice occurring in November 2018 and for any subsequent 

18 election for Federal office.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN20 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 

21 is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 302, and 303’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘subtitle A of title III’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

24 of such Act is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec2 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 

3 306; and 

4 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec5 tion 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Same day registration.’’. 

6 SEC. 122. ACCEPTANCE OF VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICA7 TIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS UNDER 18 YEARS 

8 OF AGE. 

9 (a) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS.—Section 8 of 

10 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

11 20507), as amended by section 104, is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (k) as sub13 section (l); and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(k) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FROM INDIVID17 UALS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may not refuse to 

19 accept or process an individual’s application to reg20 ister to vote in elections for Federal office on the 

21 grounds that the individual is under 18 years of age 

22 at the time the individual submits the application, so 

23 long as the individual is at least 16 years of age at 

24 such time. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON STATE VOTING AGE RE2 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in paragraph (1) may be 

3 construed to require a State to permit an individual 

4 who is under 18 years of age at the time of an elec5 tion for Federal office to vote in the election.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections occur8 ring on or after January 1, 2018. 

9 SEC. 123. ANNUAL REPORTS ON VOTER REGISTRATION STA10 TISTICS. 

11 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the end of each year, each State shall submit to the Elec13 tion Assistance Commission and Congress a report con14 taining the following categories of information for the 

15 year: 

16 (1) The number of individuals who were reg17 istered under section 111. 

18 (2) The number of voter registration applica19 tion forms completed by individuals that were trans20 mitted by motor vehicle authorities in the State 

21 (pursuant to section 5(d) of the National Voter Reg22 istration Act of 1993) and voter registration agen23 cies in the State (as designated under section 7 of 

24 such Act) to the chief State election official of the 


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1 State, broken down by each such authority and 

2 agency. 

3 (3) The number of such individuals whose voter 

4 registration application forms were accepted and 

5 who were registered to vote in the State and the 

6 number of such individuals whose forms were re7 jected and who were not registered to vote in the 

8 State, broken down by each such authority and 

9 agency. 

10 (4) The number of change of address forms and 

11 other forms of information indicating that an indi12 vidual’s identifying information has been changed 

13 that were transmitted by such motor vehicle authori14 ties and voter registration agencies to the chief State 

15 election official of the State, broken down by each 

16 such authority and agency and the type of form 

17 transmitted. 

18 (5) The number of individuals on the Statewide 

19 computerized voter registration list (as established 

20 and maintained under section 303 of the Help 

21 America Vote Act of 2002) whose voter registration 

22 information was revised by the chief State election 

23 official as a result of the forms transmitted to the 

24 official by such motor vehicle authorities and voter 

25 registration agencies (as described in paragraph 


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1 (3)), broken down by each such authority and agen2 cy and the type of form transmitted. 

3 (6) The number of individuals who requested 

4 the chief State election official to revise voter reg5 istration information on such list, and the number of 

6 individuals whose information was revised as a result 

7 of such a request. 

8 (b) BREAKDOWN OF INFORMATION BY RACE OF IN9 DIVIDUALS.—In preparing the report under this section, 

10 the State shall, for each category of information described 

11 in subsection (a), include a breakdown by race of the indi12 viduals whose information is included in the category, to 

13 the extent that information on the race of such individuals 

14 is available to the State. 

15 (c) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—In pre16 paring and submitting a report under this section, the 

17 chief State election official shall ensure that no informa18 tion regarding the identification of any individual is re19 vealed. 

20 (d) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, a ‘‘State’’ in21 cludes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

22 Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

23 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

24 Mariana Islands, but does not include any State in which, 

25 under a State law in effect continuously on and after the 


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1 date of the enactment of this Act, there is no voter reg2 istration requirement for individuals in the State with re3 spect to elections for Federal office. 

4 Subtitle D—Availability of HAVA 

5 Requirements Payments 

6 SEC. 131. AVAILABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS 

7 UNDER HAVA TO COVER COSTS OF COMPLI8 ANCE WITH NEW REQUIREMENTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 251(b) of the Help Amer10 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001(b)) is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(2) and (3)’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘(2), (3), and (4)’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

14 paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN VOTER REGISTRATION ACTIVI16 TIES.—A State may use a requirements payment to 

17 carry out any of the requirements of the Voter Reg18 istration Modernization Act of 2017, including the 

19 requirements of the National Voter Registration Act 

20 of 1993 which are imposed pursuant to the amend21 ments made to such Act by the Voter Registration 

22 Modernization Act of 2017.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 254(a)(1) 

24 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21004(a)(1)) is amended by strikVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 ing ‘‘section 251(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

2 251(b)(2)’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply with respect to fiscal year 2018 

5 and each succeeding fiscal year. 

6 Subtitle E—Prohibiting Inter7 ference With Voter Registration 

8 SEC. 141. PROHIBITING HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, 

9 OR PREVENTING VOTER REGISTRATION . 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

11 States Code is amended by adding at the end the following 

12 new section: 

13 ‘‘§ 612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing 

14 registering to vote 

15 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per16 son, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to 

17 corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person 

18 from registering to vote or aiding another person in reg19 istering to vote in any election for Federal office. 

20 ‘‘(b) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit 

21 any offense described in subsection (a) shall be subject to 

22 the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense that 

23 the person attempted to commit. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

2 (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 

3 than 5 years, or both. 

4 ‘‘(d) ELECTION FOR FEDERAL OFFICE DEFINED.— 

5 For purposes of this section, the term ‘election for Federal 

6 office’ means a general, special, primary, or runoff election 

7 held to nominate or elect a candidate for the office of 

8 President or Vice President, presidential elector, or of 

9 Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident 

10 Commissioner to, the Congress.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

12 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code is amended 

13 by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing registering to vote.’’. 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 

16 or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 

17 no person may be found to have violated section 612 of 

18 title 18, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), 

19 on the basis of any act occurring prior to the date of the 

20 enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 142. ESTABLISHMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 

22 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist24 ance Commission shall develop and publish recommenda25 tions for best practices for States to use to deter and preVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 vent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 

2 Code (as added by section 141), and section 12 of the Na3 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 

4 (relating to the unlawful interference with registering to 

5 vote, or voting, or attempting to register to vote or vote), 

6 including practices to provide for the posting of relevant 

7 information at polling places and voter registration agen8 cies under such Act, the training of poll workers and elec9 tion officials, and relevant educational materials. For pur10 poses of this subsection, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

11 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

12 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Is13 lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

14 Islands. 

15 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTER INFORMATION REQUIRE16 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

17 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara19 graph (E); 

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub21 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi25 tions of section 612 of title 18, United States 


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1 Code, and section 12 of the National Voter 

2 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 

3 (relating to the unlawful interference with reg4 istering to vote, or voting, or attempting to reg5 ister to vote or vote), including information on 

6 how individuals may report allegations of viola7 tions of such prohibitions.’’. 

8 TITLE II—ACCESS TO VOTING 

9 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS10 ABILITIES 

11 SEC. 201. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES TO PROMOTE AC12 CESS TO VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTING 

13 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

14 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

15 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.), 

16 as amended by section 114, is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 

18 sections 306 and 307; and 

19 (2) by inserting after section 304 the following 

20 new section: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 305. ACCESS TO VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTING 

22 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

23 ‘‘(a) TREATMENT OF APPLICATIONS AND BAL24 LOTS.—Each State shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) permit individuals with disabilities to use 

2 absentee registration procedures and to vote by ab3 sentee ballot in elections for Federal office; 

4 ‘‘(2) accept and process, with respect to any 

5 election for Federal office, any otherwise valid voter 

6 registration application and absentee ballot applica7 tion from an individual with a disability if the appli8 cation is received by the appropriate State election 

9 official not less than 30 days before the election; 

10 ‘‘(3) in addition to any other method of reg11 istering to vote or applying for an absentee ballot in 

12 the State, establish procedures— 

13 ‘‘(A) for individuals with disabilities to re14 quest by mail and electronically voter registra15 tion applications and absentee ballot applica16 tions with respect to elections for Federal office 

17 in accordance with subsection (c); 

18 ‘‘(B) for States to send by mail and elec19 tronically (in accordance with the preferred 

20 method of transmission designated by the indi21 vidual under subparagraph (C)) voter registra22 tion applications and absentee ballot applica23 tions requested under subparagraph (A) in ac24 cordance with subsection (c); and 


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1 ‘‘(C) by which such an individual can des2 ignate whether the individual prefers that such 

3 voter registration application or absentee ballot 

4 application be transmitted by mail or electroni5 cally; 

6 ‘‘(4) in addition to any other method of trans7 mitting blank absentee ballots in the State, establish 

8 procedures for transmitting by mail and electroni9 cally blank absentee ballots to individuals with dis10 abilities with respect to elections for Federal office 

11 in accordance with subsection (d); 

12 ‘‘(5) transmit a validly requested absentee bal13 lot to an individual with a disability— 

14 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subsection (e), 

15 in the case in which the request is received at 

16 least 45 days before an election for Federal of17 fice, not later than 45 days before the election; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(B) in the case in which the request is re20 ceived less than 45 days before an election for 

21 Federal office— 

22 ‘‘(i) in accordance with State law; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) if practicable and as determined 

24 appropriate by the State, in a manner that 


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1 expedites the transmission of such absen2 tee ballot; and 

3 ‘‘(6) if the State declares or otherwise holds a 

4 runoff election for Federal office, establish a written 

5 plan that provides absentee ballots are made avail6 able to individuals with disabilities in a manner that 

7 gives them sufficient time to vote in the runoff elec8 tion. 

9 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATION OF SINGLE STATE OFFICE TO

10 PROVIDE INFORMATION ON REGISTRATION AND ABSEN11 TEE BALLOT PROCEDURES FOR ALL DISABLED VOTERS

12 IN STATE.—Each State shall designate a single office 

13 which shall be responsible for providing information re14 garding voter registration procedures and absentee ballot 

15 procedures to be used by individuals with disabilities with 

16 respect to elections for Federal office to all individuals 

17 with disabilities who wish to register to vote or vote in 

18 any jurisdiction in the State. 

19 ‘‘(c) DESIGNATION OF MEANS OF ELECTRONIC COM20 MUNICATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES TO

21 REQUEST AND FOR STATES TO SEND VOTER REGISTRA22 TION APPLICATIONS AND ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICA23 TIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES RELATED TO VOTING

24 INFORMATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall, in addi2 tion to the designation of a single State office under 

3 subsection (b), designate not less than 1 means of 

4 electronic communication— 

5 ‘‘(A) for use by individuals with disabilities 

6 who wish to register to vote or vote in any ju7 risdiction in the State to request voter registra8 tion applications and absentee ballot applica9 tions under subsection (a)(3); 

10 ‘‘(B) for use by States to send voter reg11 istration applications and absentee ballot appli12 cations requested under such subsection; and 

13 ‘‘(C) for the purpose of providing related 

14 voting, balloting, and election information to in15 dividuals with disabilities. 

16 ‘‘(2) CLARIFICATION REGARDING PROVISION OF

17 MULTIPLE MEANS OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICA18 TION.—A State may, in addition to the means of 

19 electronic communication so designated, provide 

20 multiple means of electronic communication to indi21 viduals with disabilities, including a means of elec22 tronic communication for the appropriate jurisdic23 tion of the State. 

24 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION OF DESIGNATED MEANS OF

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1 TIONAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS THAT AC2 COMPANY BALLOTING MATERIALS.—Each State shall 

3 include a means of electronic communication so des4 ignated with all informational and instructional ma5 terials that accompany balloting materials sent by 

6 the State to individuals with disabilities. 

7 ‘‘(4) TRANSMISSION IF NO PREFERENCE INDI8 CATED.—In the case where an individual with a dis9 ability does not designate a preference under sub10 section (a)(3)(C), the State shall transmit the voter 

11 registration application or absentee ballot application 

12 by any delivery method allowable in accordance with 

13 applicable State law, or if there is no applicable 

14 State law, by mail. 

15 ‘‘(d) TRANSMISSION OF BLANK ABSENTEE BALLOTS

16 BY MAIL AND ELECTRONICALLY.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish 

18 procedures— 

19 ‘‘(A) to transmit blank absentee ballots by 

20 mail and electronically (in accordance with the 

21 preferred method of transmission designated by 

22 the individual with a disability under subpara23 graph (B)) to individuals with disabilities for an 

24 election for Federal office; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) by which the individual with a dis2 ability can designate whether the individual pre3 fers that such blank absentee ballot be trans4 mitted by mail or electronically. 

5 ‘‘(2) TRANSMISSION IF NO PREFERENCE INDI6 CATED.—In the case where an individual with a dis7 ability does not designate a preference under para8 graph (1)(B), the State shall transmit the ballot by 

9 any delivery method allowable in accordance with ap10 plicable State law, or if there is no applicable State 

11 law, by mail. 

12 ‘‘(e) HARDSHIP EXEMPTION.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief State election 

14 official determines that the State is unable to meet 

15 the requirement under subsection (a)(5)(A) with re16 spect to an election for Federal office due to an 

17 undue hardship described in paragraph (2)(B), the 

18 chief State election official shall request that the At19 torney General grant a waiver to the State of the 

20 application of such subsection. Such request shall in21 clude— 

22 ‘‘(A) a recognition that the purpose of 

23 such subsection is to individuals with disabil24 ities enough time to vote in an election for Fed25 eral office; 


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1 ‘‘(B) an explanation of the hardship that 

2 indicates why the State is unable to transmit 

3 such individuals an absentee ballot in accord4 ance with such subsection; 

5 ‘‘(C) the number of days prior to the elec6 tion for Federal office that the State requires 

7 absentee ballots be transmitted to such individ8 uals; and 

9 ‘‘(D) a comprehensive plan to ensure that 

10 such individuals are able to receive absentee 

11 ballots which they have requested and submit 

12 marked absentee ballots to the appropriate 

13 State election official in time to have that ballot 

14 counted in the election for Federal office, which 

15 includes— 

16 ‘‘(i) the steps the State will undertake 

17 to ensure that such individuals have time 

18 to receive, mark, and submit their ballots 

19 in time to have those ballots counted in the 

20 election; 

21 ‘‘(ii) why the plan provides such indi22 viduals sufficient time to vote as a sub23 stitute for the requirements under such 

24 subsection; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the underlying factual informa2 tion which explains how the plan provides 

3 such sufficient time to vote as a substitute 

4 for such requirements. 

5 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL OF WAIVER REQUEST.—The 

6 Attorney General shall approve a waiver request 

7 under paragraph (1) if the Attorney General deter8 mines each of the following requirements are met: 

9 ‘‘(A) The comprehensive plan under sub10 paragraph (D) of such paragraph provides indi11 viduals with disabilities sufficient time to re12 ceive absentee ballots they have requested and 

13 submit marked absentee ballots to the appro14 priate State election official in time to have that 

15 ballot counted in the election for Federal office. 

16 ‘‘(B) One or more of the following issues 

17 creates an undue hardship for the State: 

18 ‘‘(i) The State’s primary election date 

19 prohibits the State from complying with 

20 subsection (a)(5)(A). 

21 ‘‘(ii) The State has suffered a delay in 

22 generating ballots due to a legal contest. 

23 ‘‘(iii) The State Constitution prohibits 

24 the State from complying with such sub25 section. 


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1 ‘‘(3) TIMING OF WAIVER.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

3 under subparagraph (B), a State that requests 

4 a waiver under paragraph (1) shall submit to 

5 the Attorney General the written waiver request 

6 not later than 90 days before the election for 

7 Federal office with respect to which the request 

8 is submitted. The Attorney General shall ap9 prove or deny the waiver request not later than 

10 65 days before such election. 

11 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—If a State requests a 

12 waiver under paragraph (1) as the result of an 

13 undue hardship described in paragraph 

14 (2)(B)(ii), the State shall submit to the Attor15 ney General the written waiver request as soon 

16 as practicable. The Attorney General shall ap17 prove or deny the waiver request not later than 

18 5 business days after the date on which the re19 quest is received. 

20 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION OF WAIVER.—A waiver ap21 proved under paragraph (2) shall only apply with re22 spect to the election for Federal office for which the 

23 request was submitted. For each subsequent election 

24 for Federal office, the Attorney General shall only 

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1 quest under paragraph (1) with respect to such elec2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(f) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY DEFINED.—In 

4 this section, an ‘individual with a disability’ means an in5 dividual with an impairment that substantially limits any 

6 major life activities and who is otherwise qualified to vote 

7 in elections for Federal office. 

8 ‘‘(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

9 with respect to elections for Federal office held on or after 

10 January 1, 2018.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

12 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS13 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 

14 U.S.C. 21101(b)) is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

16 (2); 

17 (2) by striking the period at the end of para18 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(4) in the case of the recommendations with 

22 respect to section 305, January 1, 2018.’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

24 of such Act, as amended by section 114(c), is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec2 tions 305 and 306 as relating to sections 306 and 

3 307; and 

4 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec5 tion 304 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 305. Access to voter registration and voting for individuals with disabilities.’’. 

6 SEC. 202. PILOT PROGRAMS FOR ENABLING INDIVIDUALS 

7 WITH DISABILITIES TO REGISTER TO VOTE 

8 AND VOTE PRIVATELY AND INDEPENDENTLY 

9 AT RESIDENCES. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAMS.—The 

11 Election Assistance Commission (hereafter referred to as 

12 the ‘‘Commission’’) shall make grants to eligible States to 

13 conduct pilot programs under which— 

14 (1) individuals with disabilities may use elec15 tronic means (including the Internet and telephones 

16 utilizing assistive devices) to register to vote and to 

17 request and receive absentee ballots, in a manner 

18 which permits such individuals to do so privately 

19 and independently at their own residences; and 

20 (2) individuals with disabilities may use the 

21 telephone to cast ballots electronically from their 

22 own residences, but only if the telephone used is not 

23 connected to the Internet. 

24 (b) REPORTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a grant for 

2 a year under this section shall submit a report to the 

3 Commission on the pilot programs the State carried 

4 out with the grant with respect to elections for pub5 lic office held in the State during the year. 

6 (2) DEADLINE.—A State shall submit a report 

7 under paragraph (1) not later than 90 days after 

8 the last election for public office held in the State 

9 during the year. 

10 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 

11 grant under this section if the State submits to the Com12 mission, at such time and in such form as the Commission 

13 may require, an application containing such information 

14 and assurances as the Commission may require. 

15 (d) TIMING.—The Commission shall make the first 

16 grants under this section for pilot programs which will be 

17 in effect with respect to elections for Federal office held 

18 in 2018, or, at the option of a State, with respect to other 

19 elections for public office held in the State in 2018. 

20 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated for grants for pilot pro22 grams under this section $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2018 

23 and each succeeding fiscal year. 

24 (f) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

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1 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

2 United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of 

3 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

4 SEC. 203. EXPANSION AND REAUTHORIZATION OF GRANT 

5 PROGRAM TO ASSURE VOTING ACCESS FOR 

6 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

7 (a) PURPOSES OF PAYMENTS.—Section 261(b) of the 

8 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21021(b)) is 

9 amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) making absentee voting and voting at 

12 home accessible to individuals with the full range of 

13 disabilities (including impairments involving vision, 

14 hearing, mobility, or dexterity) through the imple15 mentation of accessible absentee voting systems that 

16 work in conjunction with assistive technologies for 

17 which individuals have access at their homes, inde18 pendent living centers, or other facilities; 

19 ‘‘(2) making polling places, including the path 

20 of travel, entrances, exits, and voting areas of each 

21 polling facility, accessible to individuals with disabil22 ities, including the blind and visually impaired, in a 

23 manner that provides the same opportunity for ac24 cess and participation (including privacy and inde25 pendence) as for other voters; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) providing solutions to problems of access 

2 to voting and elections for individuals with disabil3 ities that are universally designed and provide the 

4 same opportunities for individuals with and without 

5 disabilities.’’. 

6 (b) REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 264(a) of such Act 

7 (52 U.S.C. 21024(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(4) For fiscal year 2018 and each succeeding 

10 fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary to carry 

11 out this part.’’. 

12 (c) PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Section 

13 264 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21024) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Any 

15 amounts’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in sub16 section (b), any amounts’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub18 section: 

19 ‘‘(c) RETURN AND TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FUNDS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) DEADLINE FOR OBLIGATION AND EXPEND21 ITURE.—In the case of any amounts appropriated 

22 pursuant to the authority of subsection (a) for a 

23 payment to a State or unit of local government for 

24 fiscal year 2018 or any succeeding fiscal year, any 

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1 gated or expended by the State or unit of local gov2 ernment prior to the expiration of the 4-year period 

3 which begins on the date the State or unit of local 

4 government first received the amounts shall be 

5 transferred to the Commission. 

6 ‘‘(2) REALLOCATION OF TRANSFERRED

7 AMOUNTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

9 use the amounts transferred under paragraph 

10 (1) to make payments on a pro rata basis to 

11 each covered payment recipient described in 

12 subparagraph (B), which may obligate and ex13 pend such payment for the purposes described 

14 in section 261(b) during the 1-year period 

15 which begins on the date of receipt. 

16 ‘‘(B) COVERED PAYMENT RECIPIENTS DE17 SCRIBED.—In subparagraph (A), a ‘covered 

18 payment recipient’ is a State or unit of local 

19 government with respect to which— 

20 ‘‘(i) amounts were appropriated pur21 suant to the authority of subsection (a); 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) no amounts were transferred to 

24 the Commission under paragraph (1).’’. 


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1 TITLE III—PROHIBITING VOTER 

2 CAGING 

3 SEC. 301. VOTER CAGING AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE 

4 CHALLENGES PROHIBITED. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, as amended by section 141(a), is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘§ 613. Voter caging and other questionable chal9 lenges 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘voter caging document’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) a nonforwardable document that is 

13 returned to the sender or a third party as unde14 livered or undeliverable despite an attempt to 

15 deliver such document to the address of a reg16 istered voter or applicant; or 

17 ‘‘(B) any document with instructions to an 

18 addressee that the document be returned to the 

19 sender or a third party but is not so returned, 

20 despite an attempt to deliver such document to 

21 the address of a registered voter or applicant, 

22 unless at least two Federal election cycles have 

23 passed since the date of the attempted delivery; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘voter caging list’ means a list of 

2 individuals compiled from voter caging documents; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(3) the term ‘unverified match list’ means a 

5 list produced by matching the information of reg6 istered voters or applicants for voter registration to 

7 a list of individuals who are ineligible to vote in the 

8 registrar’s jurisdiction, by virtue of death, convic9 tion, change of address, or otherwise; unless one of 

10 the pieces of information matched includes a signa11 ture, photograph, or unique identifying number en12 suring that the information from each source refers 

13 to the same individual. 

14 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION AGAINST VOTER CAGING.—No 

15 State or local election official shall prevent an individual 

16 from registering or voting in any election for Federal of17 fice, or permit in connection with any election for Federal 

18 office a formal challenge under State law to an individual’s 

19 registration status or eligibility to vote, if the basis for 

20 such decision is evidence consisting of— 

21 ‘‘(1) a voter caging document or voter caging 

22 list; 

23 ‘‘(2) an unverified match list; 

24 ‘‘(3) an error or omission on any record or 

25 paper relating to any application, registration, or 


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1 other act requisite to voting, if such error or omis2 sion is not material to an individual’s eligibility to 

3 vote under section 2004 of the Revised Statutes, as 

4 amended (52 U.S.C. 10101(a)(2)(B)); or 

5 ‘‘(4) any other evidence so designated for pur6 poses of this section by the Election Assistance Com7 mission, 

8 except that the election official may use such evidence if 

9 it is corroborated by independent evidence of the individ10 ual’s ineligibility to register or vote. 

11 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES BY PERSONS

12 OTHER THAN ELECTION OFFICIALS.—No person, other 

13 than a State or local election official, shall submit a formal 

14 challenge to an individual’s eligibility to register to vote 

15 in an election for Federal office or to vote in an election 

16 for Federal office unless that challenge is supported by 

17 personal knowledge regarding the grounds for ineligibility 

18 which is— 

19 ‘‘(1) documented in writing; and 

20 ‘‘(2) subject to an oath or attestation under 

21 penalty of perjury that the challenger has a good 

22 faith factual basis to believe that the individual who 

23 is the subject of the challenge is ineligible to register 

24 to vote or vote in that election, except a challenge 

25 which is based on the race or national origin of the 


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1 individual who is the subject of the challenge may 

2 not be considered to have a good faith factual basis 

3 for purposes of this paragraph. 

4 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES FOR KNOWING MISCONDUCT.— 

5 Whoever knowingly challenges the eligibility of one or 

6 more individuals to register or vote or knowingly causes 

7 the eligibility of such individuals to be challenged in viola8 tion of this section with the intent that one or more eligi9 ble voters be disqualified, shall be fined under this title 

10 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, for each such 

11 violation. Each violation shall be a separate offense. 

12 ‘‘(e) NO EFFECT ON RELATED LAWS.—Nothing in 

13 this section is intended to override the protections of the 

14 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

15 20501 et seq.) or to affect the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

16 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.).’’. 

17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended 

19 by section 141(b), is amended by adding at the end the 

20 following: 

‘‘613. Voter caging and other questionable challenges.’’. 

21 SEC. 302. DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRAC22 TICES FOR PREVENTING VOTER CAGING. 

23 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist25 ance Commission shall develop and publish for the use of 


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1 States recommendations for best practices to deter and 

2 prevent violations of section 613 of title 18, United States 

3 Code, as added by section 301(a), including practices to 

4 provide for the posting of relevant information at polling 

5 places and voter registration agencies, the training of poll 

6 workers and election officials, and relevant educational 

7 measures. For purposes of this subsection, the term 

8 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Common9 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

10 United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of 

11 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

12 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTING INFORMATION REQUIRE13 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

14 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)), as amended by section 

15 141(b), is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara17 graph (F); 

18 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub19 paragraph (G) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(H) information relating to the prohibi23 tion against voter caging and other questionable 

24 challenges (as set forth in section 613 of title 

25 18, United States Code), including information 


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1 on how individuals may report allegations of 

2 violations of such prohibition.’’. 

3 SEC. 303. SEVERABILITY. 

4 If any provision of this title or any amendment made 

5 by this title, or the application of a provision to any person 

6 or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the re7 mainder of this title and the amendments made by this 

8 title, and the application of the provisions to any person 

9 or circumstance, shall not be affected by the holding. 

10 TITLE IV—PROHIBITING 

11 DECEPTIVE PRACTICES 

12 SEC. 401. PROHIBITION ON DECEPTIVE PRACTICES IN FED13 ERAL ELECTIONS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

15 States Code, as amended by section 141(a) and section 

16 301(a), is amended by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘§ 614. False election-related information in Federal 

18 elections 

19 ‘‘(a) A person, including an election official, who in 

20 any election for Federal office knowingly and willfully de21 prives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the 

22 residents of a State of their free and fair exercise of the 

23 right to vote by the communication of election-related in24 formation that is known by the person to be materially 


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1 false, fictitious, or fraudulent shall be fined under this title 

2 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 

3 ‘‘(b) As used in this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘election for Federal office’ means 

5 any general, primary, runoff, or special election for 

6 the office of President, Vice President, presidential 

7 elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House 

8 of Representatives, or Delegate or Resident Commis9 sioner to the Congress; and 

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘election-related information’ 

11 means any oral or written communication regard12 ing— 

13 ‘‘(A) the time or place of an election for 

14 Federal office; 

15 ‘‘(B) criminal penalties associated with 

16 voting in such an election; 

17 ‘‘(C) an individual’s voter registration sta18 tus or eligibility to vote in such an election; or 

19 ‘‘(D) the explicit endorsement by any per20 son or organization of a candidate in such an 

21 election.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

23 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended 

24 by section 141(b) and section 301(b), is amended by add25 ing at the end the following new item: 

‘‘614. False election-related information in Federal elections.’’. 


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1 SEC. 402. MODIFICATION OF PENALTY FOR VOTER INTIMI2 DATION. 

3 Section 594 of title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended by striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’. 

5 SEC. 403. SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

6 (a) REVIEW AND AMENDMENT.—Not later than 90 

7 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the United 

8 States Sentencing Commission, pursuant to its authority 

9 under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, and 

10 in accordance with this section, shall review and, if appro11 priate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy 

12 statements applicable to persons convicted of any offense 

13 under any sections of title 18, United States Code, that 

14 are added or modified by this Act. 

15 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The United States Sentencing 

16 Commission may, for the purposes of the amendments 

17 made pursuant to this title, amend the Federal sentencing 

18 guidelines in accordance with the procedures set forth in 

19 section 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 

20 994 note) as though the authority under that section had 

21 not expired. 

22 SEC. 404. REPORTING VIOLATIONS; CORRECTIVE ACTION. 

23 (a) REPORTING.—Any person may submit a report 

24 to the Attorney General regarding any violation or possible 

25 violation of section 594 or section 614 of title 18, United 

26 States Code (as added by section 401(a)). 


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1 (b) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Immediately after receiving 

3 a report under subsection (a), the Attorney General 

4 shall consider and review the report, and if the At5 torney General determines that there is a reasonable 

6 basis to find that a violation included in the report 

7 has occurred, the Attorney General shall— 

8 (A) undertake all effective measures nec9 essary to provide correct information to voters 

10 affected by the false information; and 

11 (B) refer the matter to the appropriate 

12 Federal and State authorities for criminal pros13 ecution or civil action after the election in14 volved. 

15 (2) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General shall 

16 promulgate regulations regarding the methods and 

17 means of corrective actions to be taken under para18 graph (1). Such regulations shall be developed in 

19 consultation with the Election Assistance Commis20 sion, civil rights organizations, voting rights groups, 

21 State and local election officials, voter protection 

22 groups, and other interested community organiza23 tions. 

24 (3) STUDY AND REPORT ON METHODS OF DIS25 SEMINATING CORRECTIVE INFORMATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, 

2 in consultation with the Federal Communica3 tions Commission and the Election Assistance 

4 Commission, shall conduct a study on the feasi5 bility of providing the corrective information 

6 under paragraph (1) through public service an7 nouncements, the emergency alert system, or 

8 other forms of public broadcast. 

9 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

11 Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re12 port detailing the results of the study conducted 

13 under subparagraph (A). 

14 (4) PUBLICIZING AVAILABILITY OF REM15 EDIES.—The Attorney General shall make public 

16 through the Internet, radio, television, and news17 paper advertisements information on the responsibil18 ities, contact information, and complaint procedures 

19 applicable under this section. 

20 (c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

22 any election with respect to which a report has been 

23 submitted under subsection (a), the Attorney Gen24 eral shall submit to Congress a report compiling all 


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1 such reports submitted under subsection (a) with re2 spect to that election. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each report submitted 

5 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

6 (i) detailed information on specific al7 legations; 

8 (ii) statistical compilations of how 

9 many allegations were made and of what 

10 type; 

11 (iii) the geographic locations of and 

12 the populations affected by the alleged vio13 lations; 

14 (iv) the status of the investigations of 

15 such allegations; 

16 (v) any corrective actions taken in re17 sponse to such allegations; 

18 (vi) the rationale used for any correc19 tive actions or for any refusal to pursue an 

20 allegation; 

21 (vii) the effectiveness of any such cor22 rective actions; 

23 (viii) whether a Voting Integrity Task 

24 Force was established with respect to such 


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1 election, and, if so, how such task force 

2 was staffed and funded; 

3 (ix) any referrals of information to 

4 other Federal, State, or local agencies; and 

5 (x) any criminal prosecution instituted 

6 under title 18, United States Code, in con7 nection with such allegations. 

8 (3) REPORT MADE PUBLIC.—On the date that 

9 the Attorney General submits the report under para10 graph (1), the Attorney General shall also make the 

11 report publicly available through the Internet and 

12 other appropriate means. 

13 (d) DELEGATION OF DUTIES.— 

14 (1) USE OF VOTING INTEGRITY TASK FORCE.— 

15 The Attorney General shall delegate the responsibil16 ities under this section with respect to a particular 

17 election to a Voting Integrity Task Force established 

18 by the Attorney General for such purpose. 

19 (2) COMPOSITION.—A Voting Integrity Task 

20 Force established under paragraph (1) shall be 

21 under the direction of the Assistant Attorney Gen22 eral for the Civil Rights Division and the Assistant 

23 Attorney General for the Criminal Division, acting 

24 jointly. 


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1 TITLE V—DEMOCRACY 

2 RESTORATION 

3 SEC. 501. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 

4 The right of an individual who is a citizen of the 

5 United States to vote in any election for Federal office 

6 shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has 

7 been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual 

8 is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution 

9 or facility at the time of the election. 

10 SEC. 502. ENFORCEMENT. 

11 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

12 may, in a civil action, obtain such declaratory or injunctive 

13 relief as is necessary to remedy a violation of this title. 

14 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

15 (1) A person who is aggrieved by a violation of 

16 this title may provide written notice of the violation 

17 to the chief election official of the State involved. 

18 (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), if the 

19 violation is not corrected within 90 days after receipt 

20 of a notice under paragraph (1), or within 20 days 

21 after receipt of the notice if the violation occurred 

22 within 120 days before the date of an election for 

23 Federal office, the aggrieved person may, in a civil 

24 action, obtain declaratory or injunctive relief with re25 spect to the violation. 


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1 (3) If the violation occurred within 30 days be2 fore the date of an election for Federal office, the 

3 aggrieved person need not provide notice to the chief 

4 election official of the State under paragraph (1) be5 fore bringing a civil action to obtain declaratory or 

6 injunctive relief with respect to the violation. 

7 SEC. 503. NOTIFICATION OF RESTORATION OF VOTING 

8 RIGHTS. 

9 (a) STATE NOTIFICATION.— 

10 (1) NOTIFICATION.—On the date determined 

11 under paragraph (2), each State shall notify in writ12 ing any individual who has been convicted of a 

13 criminal offense under the law of that State that 

14 such individual has the right to vote in an election 

15 for Federal office pursuant to this title and may reg16 ister to vote in any such election. 

17 (2) DATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 

18 (A) FELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 

19 such an individual who has been convicted of a 

20 felony, the notification required under para21 graph (1) shall be given on the date on which 

22 the individual— 

23 (i) is sentenced to serve only a term 

24 of probation; or 


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1 (ii) is released from the custody of 

2 that State (other than to the custody of 

3 another State or the Federal Government 

4 to serve a term of imprisonment for a fel5 ony conviction). 

6 (B) MISDEMEANOR CONVICTION.—In the 

7 case of such an individual who has been con8 victed of a misdemeanor, the notification re9 quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 

10 the date on which such individual is sentenced 

11 by a State court. 

12 (b) FEDERAL NOTIFICATION.— 

13 (1) NOTIFICATION.—On the date determined 

14 under paragraph (2), the Director of the Bureau of 

15 Prisons shall notify in writing any individual who 

16 has been convicted of a criminal offense under Fed17 eral law that such individual has the right to vote 

18 in an election for Federal office pursuant to this 

19 title and may register to vote in any such election. 

20 (2) DATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 

21 (A) FELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 

22 such an individual who has been convicted of a 

23 felony, the notification required under para24 graph (1) shall be given on the date on which 

25 the individual— 


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1 (i) is sentenced to serve only a term 

2 of probation by a court established by an 

3 Act of Congress; or 

4 (ii) is released from the custody of the 

5 Bureau of Prisons (other than to the cus6 tody of a State to serve a term of impris7 onment for a felony conviction). 

8 (B) MISDEMEANOR CONVICTION.—In the 

9 case of such an individual who has been con10 victed of a misdemeanor, the notification re11 quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 

12 the date on which such individual is sentenced 

13 by a State court. 

14 SEC. 504. DEFINITIONS. 

15 For purposes of this title: 

16 (1) CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OR FACIL17 ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’ 

18 means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu19 tion or facility for the confinement of individuals 

20 convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or 

21 privately operated, except that such term does not 

22 include any residential community treatment center 

23 (or similar public or private facility). 

24 (2) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means— 


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1 (A) a general, special, primary, or runoff 

2 election; 

3 (B) a convention or caucus of a political 

4 party held to nominate a candidate; 

5 (C) a primary election held for the selec6 tion of delegates to a national nominating con7 vention of a political party; or 

8 (D) a primary election held for the expres9 sion of a preference for the nomination of per10 sons for election to the office of President. 

11 (3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of12 fice’’ means the office of President or Vice President 

13 of the United States, or of Senator or Representa14 tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, 

15 the Congress of the United States. 

16 (4) PROBATION.—The term ‘‘probation’’ means 

17 probation, imposed by a Federal, State, or local 

18 court, with or without a condition on the individual 

19 involved concerning— 

20 (A) the individual’s freedom of movement; 

21 (B) the payment of damages by the indi22 vidual; 

23 (C) periodic reporting by the individual to 

24 an officer of the court; or 


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1 (D) supervision of the individual by an of2 ficer of the court. 

3 SEC. 505. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 

4 (a) STATE LAWS RELATING TO VOTING RIGHTS.— 

5 Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit the 

6 States from enacting any State law which affords the right 

7 to vote in any election for Federal office on terms less 

8 restrictive than those established by this title. 

9 (b) CERTAIN FEDERAL ACTS.—The rights and rem10 edies established by this title are in addition to all other 

11 rights and remedies provided by law, and neither rights 

12 and remedies established by this title shall supersede, re13 strict, or limit the application of the Voting Rights Act 

14 of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) or the National Voter 

15 Registration Act (52 U.S.C. 20501). 

16 SEC. 506. FEDERAL PRISON FUNDS. 

17 No State, unit of local government, or other person 

18 may receive or use, to construct or otherwise improve a 

19 prison, jail, or other place of incarceration, any Federal 

20 grant amounts unless that person has in effect a program 

21 under which each individual incarcerated in that person’s 

22 jurisdiction who is a citizen of the United States is noti23 fied, upon release from such incarceration, of that individ24 ual’s rights under section 501. 


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1 SEC. 507. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This title shall apply to citizens of the United States 

3 voting in any election for Federal office held after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act. 

5 TITLE VI—ACCURACY, INTEG6 RITY, AND SECURITY OF 

7 ELECTIONS 

8 SEC. 600. SHORT TITLE. 

9 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Confidence and 

10 Increased Accessibility Act of 2017’’. 

11 Subtitle A—Promoting Accuracy, 

12 Integrity, and Security Through 

13 Voter-Verified Permanent Paper 

14 Ballot 

15 SEC. 601. PAPER BALLOT AND MANUAL COUNTING RE16 QUIREMENTS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the Help 

18 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(2)) is 

19 amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(2) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS.— 

22 ‘‘(i) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

23 (I) The voting system shall require the use 

24 of an individual, durable, voter-verified, 

25 paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall 

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1 tion and verification by the voter before 

2 the voter’s vote is cast and counted, and 

3 which shall be counted by hand or read by 

4 an optical character recognition device or 

5 other counting device. For purposes of this 

6 subclause, the term ‘individual, durable, 

7 voter-verified, paper ballot’ means a paper 

8 ballot marked by the voter by hand or a 

9 paper ballot marked through the use of a 

10 nontabulating ballot marking device or sys11 tem, so long as the voter shall have the op12 tion to mark his or her ballot by hand. 

13 ‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 

14 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

15 any error on the paper ballot before the 

16 permanent voter-verified paper ballot is 

17 preserved in accordance with clause (ii). 

18 ‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 

19 preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 

20 any manner that makes it possible, at any 

21 time after the ballot has been cast, to asso22 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 

23 vote without the voter’s consent. 

24 ‘‘(ii) PRESERVATION AS OFFICIAL

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1 verified, paper ballot used in accordance 

2 with clause (i) shall constitute the official 

3 ballot and shall be preserved and used as 

4 the official ballot for purposes of any re5 count or audit conducted with respect to 

6 any election for Federal office in which the 

7 voting system is used. 

8 ‘‘(iii) MANUAL COUNTING REQUIRE9 MENTS FOR RECOUNTS AND AUDITS.—(I) 

10 Each paper ballot used pursuant to clause 

11 (i) shall be suitable for a manual audit, 

12 and shall be counted by hand in any re13 count or audit conducted with respect to 

14 any election for Federal office. 

15 ‘‘(II) In the event of any inconsist16 encies or irregularities between any elec17 tronic vote tallies and the vote tallies de18 termined by counting by hand the indi19 vidual, durable, voter-verified, paper ballots 

20 used pursuant to clause (i), and subject to 

21 subparagraph (B), the individual, durable, 

22 voter-verified, paper ballots shall be the 

23 true and correct record of the votes cast. 

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1 graph shall apply to all ballots cast in elec2 tions for Federal office, including ballots 

3 cast by absent uniformed services voters 

4 and overseas voters under the Uniformed 

5 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

6 and other absentee voters. 

7 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR TREATMENT OF

8 DISPUTES WHEN PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN

9 SHOWN TO BE COMPROMISED.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the event 

11 that— 

12 ‘‘(I) there is any inconsistency 

13 between any electronic vote tallies and 

14 the vote tallies determined by count15 ing by hand the individual, durable, 

16 voter-verified, paper ballots used pur17 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) with re18 spect to any election for Federal of19 fice; and 

20 ‘‘(II) it is demonstrated by clear 

21 and convincing evidence (as deter22 mined in accordance with the applica23 ble standards in the jurisdiction in24 volved) in any recount, audit, or con25 test of the result of the election that 


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1 the paper ballots have been com2 promised (by damage or mischief or 

3 otherwise) and that a sufficient num4 ber of the ballots have been so com5 promised that the result of the elec6 tion could be changed, 

7 the determination of the appropriate rem8 edy with respect to the election shall be 

9 made in accordance with applicable State 

10 law, except that the electronic tally shall 

11 not be used as the exclusive basis for de12 termining the official certified result. 

13 ‘‘(ii) RULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF

14 BALLOTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH VOTING

15 MACHINE.—For purposes of clause (i), 

16 only the paper ballots deemed com17 promised, if any, shall be considered in the 

18 calculation of whether or not the result of 

19 the election could be changed due to the 

20 compromised paper ballots.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING APPLI22 CABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSIBILITY.— 

23 Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(4)) 

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1 quired to be used under paragraph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting sys2 tem’’. 

3 (c) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

4 301(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1)) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘count7 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

8 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

9 (2) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘count10 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

11 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

12 (3) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking ‘‘count13 ed’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘counted, in 

14 accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 

15 (4) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘count16 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

17 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 

18 SEC. 602. ACCESSIBILITY AND BALLOT VERIFICATION FOR 

19 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(3)(B) of the Help 

21 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(3)(B)) is 

22 amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(B)(i) satisfy the requirement of subpara24 graph (A) through the use of at least one voting 

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1 ities, including nonvisual and enhanced visual 

2 accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, 

3 and nonmanual and enhanced manual accessi4 bility for the mobility and dexterity impaired, at 

5 each polling place; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) meet the requirements of subpara7 graph (A) and paragraph (2)(A) by using a sys8 tem that— 

9 ‘‘(I) allows the voter to privately and 

10 independently verify the permanent paper 

11 ballot through the presentation, in acces12 sible form, of the printed or marked vote 

13 selections from the same printed or 

14 marked information that would be used for 

15 any vote counting or auditing; and 

16 ‘‘(II) allows the voter to privately and 

17 independently verify and cast the perma18 nent paper ballot without requiring the 

19 voter to manually handle the paper ballot; 

20 and’’. 

21 (b) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, TESTING, 

22 AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSIBLE PAPER BALLOT

23 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.— 


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1 (1) STUDY AND REPORTING.—Subtitle C of 

2 title II of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 

3 amended— 

4 (A) by redesignating section 247 as section 

5 248; and 

6 (B) by inserting after section 246 the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE PAPER 

9 BALLOT VERIFICATION MECHANISMS. 

10 ‘‘(a) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Director of the Na11 tional Science Foundation shall make grants to not fewer 

12 than 3 eligible entities to study, test, and develop acces13 sible paper ballot voting, verification, and casting mecha14 nisms and devices and best practices to enhance the acces15 sibility of paper ballot voting and verification mechanisms 

16 for individuals with disabilities, for voters whose primary 

17 language is not English, and for voters with difficulties 

18 in literacy, including best practices for the mechanisms 

19 themselves and the processes through which the mecha20 nisms are used. 

21 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible to receive a 

22 grant under this part if it submits to the Director (at such 

23 time and in such form as the Director may require) an 

24 application containing— 


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1 ‘‘(1) certifications that the entity shall specifi2 cally investigate enhanced methods or devices, in3 cluding non-electronic devices, that will assist such 

4 individuals and voters in marking voter-verified 

5 paper ballots and presenting or transmitting the in6 formation printed or marked on such ballots back to 

7 such individuals and voters, and casting such ballots; 

8 ‘‘(2) a certification that the entity shall com9 plete the activities carried out with the grant not 

10 later than December 31, 2018; and 

11 ‘‘(3) such other information and certifications 

12 as the Director may require. 

13 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF TECHNOLOGY.—Any tech14 nology developed with the grants made under this section 

15 shall be treated as non-proprietary and shall be made 

16 available to the public, including to manufacturers of vot17 ing systems. 

18 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH GRANTS FOR TECH19 NOLOGY IMPROVEMENTS.—The Director shall carry out 

20 this section so that the activities carried out with the 

21 grants made under subsection (a) are coordinated with the 

22 research conducted under the grant program carried out 

23 by the Commission under section 271, to the extent that 

24 the Director and Commission determine necessary to pro25 vide for the advancement of accessible voting technology. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection 

3 (a) $5,000,000, to remain available until expended.’’. 

4 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con5 tents of such Act is amended— 

6 (A) by redesignating the item relating to 

7 section 247 as relating to section 248; and 

8 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

9 section 246 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 247. Study and report on accessible paper ballot verification mechanisms.’’. 

10 (c) CLARIFICATION OF ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS

11 UNDER VOLUNTARY VOTING SYSTEM GUIDANCE.—In 

12 adopting any voluntary guidance under subtitle B of title 

13 III of the Help America Vote Act with respect to the ac14 cessibility of the paper ballot verification requirements for 

15 individuals with disabilities, the Election Assistance Com16 mission shall include and apply the same accessibility 

17 standards applicable under the voluntary guidance adopt18 ed for accessible voting systems under such subtitle. 

19 (d) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR PROTECTION

20 AND ADVOCACY SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT ACTIONS TO EN21 FORCE ELECTION-RELATED DISABILITY ACCESS.—Sec22 tion 292(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

23 U.S.C. 21062(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘; except that’’ 

24 and all that follows and inserting a period. 


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1 SEC. 603. DURABILITY AND READABILITY REQUIREMENTS 

2 FOR BALLOTS. 

3 Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(7) DURABILITY AND READABILITY REQUIRE7 MENTS FOR BALLOTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DURABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR

9 PAPER BALLOTS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—All voter-verified 

11 paper ballots required to be used under 

12 this Act shall be marked or printed on du13 rable paper. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION.—For purposes of 

15 this Act, paper is ‘durable’ if it is capable 

16 of withstanding multiple counts and re17 counts by hand without compromising the 

18 fundamental integrity of the ballots, and 

19 capable of retaining the information 

20 marked or printed on them for the full du21 ration of a retention and preservation pe22 riod of 22 months. 

23 ‘‘(B) READABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR

24 PAPER BALLOTS MARKED BY BALLOT MARKING

25 DEVICE.—All voter-verified paper ballots com26 pleted by the voter through the use of a ballot 


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1 marking device shall be clearly readable by the 

2 voter without assistance (other than eyeglasses 

3 or other personal vision enhancing devices) and 

4 by an optical character recognition device or 

5 other device equipped for individuals with dis6 abilities.’’. 

7 SEC. 604. EFFECTIVE DATE FOR NEW REQUIREMENTS. 

8 Section 301(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

9 (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para12 graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re13 quired to comply with the requirements of this sec14 tion on and after January 1, 2006. 

15 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN REQUIRE16 MENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

18 subparagraphs (B) and (C), the requirements of 

19 this section which are first imposed on a State 

20 and jurisdiction pursuant to the amendments 

21 made by title I of the Voter Confidence and In22 creased Accessibility Act of 2017 shall apply 

23 with respect to voting systems used for any 

24 election for Federal office held in 2022 or any 

25 succeeding year. 


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1 ‘‘(B) DELAY FOR JURISDICTIONS USING

2 CERTAIN PAPER RECORD PRINTERS OR CERTAIN

3 SYSTEMS USING OR PRODUCING VOTER4 VERIFIABLE PAPER RECORDS IN 2020.— 

5 ‘‘(i) DELAY.—In the case of a juris6 diction described in clause (ii), subpara7 graph (A) shall apply to a voting system in 

8 the jurisdiction as if the reference in such 

9 subparagraph to ‘2022’ were a reference to 

10 ‘2024’, but only with respect to the fol11 lowing requirements of this section: 

12 ‘‘(I) Paragraph (2)(A)(i)(I) of 

13 subsection (a) (relating to the use of 

14 voter-marked paper ballots). 

15 ‘‘(II) Paragraph (3)(B)(ii)(I) and 

16 (II) of subsection (a) (relating to ac17 cess to verification from and casting 

18 of the durable paper ballot). 

19 ‘‘(III) Paragraph (7) of sub20 section (a) (relating to durability and 

21 readability requirements for ballots). 

22 ‘‘(ii) JURISDICTIONS DESCRIBED.—A 

23 jurisdiction described in this clause is a ju24 risdiction— 


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1 ‘‘(I) which used voter verifiable 

2 paper record printers attached to di3 rect recording electronic voting ma4 chines, or which used other voting 

5 systems that used or produced paper 

6 records of the vote verifiable by voters 

7 but that are not in compliance with 

8 paragraphs (2)(A)(i)(I), (3)(B)(ii)(I) 

9 and (II), and (7) of subsection (a) (as 

10 amended or added by the Voter Con11 fidence and Increased Accessibility 

12 Act of 2017), for the administration 

13 of the regularly scheduled general 

14 election for Federal office held in No15 vember 2020; and 

16 ‘‘(II) which will continue to use 

17 such printers or systems for the ad18 ministration of elections for Federal 

19 office held in years before 2022. 

20 ‘‘(iii) MANDATORY AVAILABILITY OF

21 PAPER BALLOTS AT POLLING PLACES

22 USING GRANDFATHERED PRINTERS AND

23 SYSTEMS.— 

24 ‘‘(I) REQUIRING BALLOTS TO BE

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1 propriate election official at each poll2 ing place that uses a printer or sys3 tem described in clause (ii)(I) for the 

4 administration of elections for Federal 

5 office shall offer each individual who 

6 is eligible to cast a vote in the election 

7 at the polling place the opportunity to 

8 cast the vote using a blank pre-print9 ed paper ballot which the individual 

10 may mark by hand and which is not 

11 produced by the direct recording elec12 tronic voting machine or other such 

13 system. The official shall provide the 

14 individual with the ballot and the sup15 plies necessary to mark the ballot, and 

16 shall ensure (to the greatest extent 

17 practicable) that the waiting period 

18 for the individual to cast a vote is the 

19 lesser of 30 minutes or the average 

20 waiting period for an individual who 

21 does not agree to cast the vote using 

22 such a paper ballot under this clause. 

23 ‘‘(II) TREATMENT OF BALLOT.— 

24 Any paper ballot which is cast by an 

25 individual under this clause shall be 


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1 counted and otherwise treated as a 

2 regular ballot for all purposes (includ3 ing by incorporating it into the final 

4 unofficial vote count (as defined by 

5 the State) for the precinct) and not as 

6 a provisional ballot, unless the indi7 vidual casting the ballot would have 

8 otherwise been required to cast a pro9 visional ballot. 

10 ‘‘(III) POSTING OF NOTICE.— 

11 The appropriate election official shall 

12 ensure there is prominently displayed 

13 at each polling place a notice that de14 scribes the obligation of the official to 

15 offer individuals the opportunity to 

16 cast votes using a pre-printed blank 

17 paper ballot. 

18 ‘‘(IV) TRAINING OF ELECTION

19 OFFICIALS.—The chief State election 

20 official shall ensure that election offi21 cials at polling places in the State are 

22 aware of the requirements of this 

23 clause, including the requirement to 

24 display a notice under subclause (III), 

25 and are aware that it is a violation of 


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1 the requirements of this title for an 

2 election official to fail to offer an indi3 vidual the opportunity to cast a vote 

4 using a blank pre-printed paper ballot. 

5 ‘‘(V) PERIOD OF APPLICA6 BILITY.—The requirements of this 

7 clause apply only during the period in 

8 which the delay is in effect under 

9 clause (i). 

10 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR JURISDICTIONS

11 USING CERTAIN NONTABULATING BALLOT

12 MARKING DEVICES.—In the case of a jurisdic13 tion which uses a nontabulating ballot marking 

14 device which automatically deposits the ballot 

15 into a privacy sleeve, subparagraph (A) shall 

16 apply to a voting system in the jurisdiction as 

17 if the reference in such subparagraph to ‘any 

18 election for Federal office held in 2022 or any 

19 succeeding year’ were a reference to ‘elections 

20 for Federal office occurring held in 2024 or 

21 each succeeding year’, but only with respect to 

22 paragraph (3)(B)(ii)(II) of subsection (a) (re23 lating to nonmanual casting of the durable 

24 paper ballot).’’. 


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1 Subtitle B—Requirement for Man2 datory Manual Audits by Hand 

3 Count 

4 SEC. 611. MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS. 

5 Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

6 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new subtitle: 

8 ‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual 

9 Audits 

10 ‘‘SEC. 321. REQUIRING AUDITS OF RESULTS OF ELECTIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING AUDITS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this 

13 subtitle, each State shall administer, without ad14 vance notice to the precincts or alternative audit 

15 units selected, audits of the results of all elections 

16 for Federal office held in the State (and, at the op17 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections 

18 for State and local office held at the same time as 

19 such election) consisting of random hand counts of 

20 the voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

21 and preserved pursuant to section 301(a)(2). 

22 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ELECTIONS.—A 

23 State shall not be required to administer an audit of 

24 the results of an election for Federal office under 


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1 this subtitle if the winning candidate in the elec2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(A) had no opposition on the ballot; or 

4 ‘‘(B) received 80 percent or more of the 

5 total number of votes cast in the election, as de6 termined on the basis of the final unofficial vote 

7 count. 

8 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF ENTITY CONDUCTING AU9 DITS; APPLICATION OF GAO INDEPENDENCE STAND10 ARDS.—The State shall administer audits under this sub11 title through an entity selected for such purpose by the 

12 State in accordance with such criteria as the State con13 siders appropriate consistent with the requirements of this 

14 subtitle, except that the entity must meet the general 

15 standards established by the Comptroller General and as 

16 set forth in the Comptroller General’s Government Audit17 ing Standards to ensure the independence (including, ex18 cept as provided under section 323(b), the organizational 

19 independence) of entities performing financial audits, at20 testation engagements, and performance audits. 

21 ‘‘(c) REFERENCES TO ELECTION AUDITOR.—In this 

22 subtitle, the term ‘Election Auditor’ means, with respect 

23 to a State, the entity selected by the State under sub24 section (b). 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 322. NUMBER OF BALLOTS COUNTED UNDER AUDIT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

3 (b), the number of voter-verified paper ballots which will 

4 be subject to a hand count administered by the Election 

5 Auditor of a State under this subtitle with respect to an 

6 election shall be determined as follows: 

7 ‘‘(1) In the event that the unofficial count as 

8 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar9 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

10 the largest number of votes in the election is less 

11 than 1 percent of the total votes cast in that elec12 tion, the hand counts of the voter-verified paper bal13 lots shall occur in at least 10 percent of all precincts 

14 or equivalent locations (or alternative audit units 

15 used in accordance with the method provided for 

16 under subsection (b)) in the Congressional district 

17 involved (in the case of an election for the House of 

18 Representatives) or the State (in the case of any 

19 other election for Federal office). 

20 ‘‘(2) In the event that the unofficial count as 

21 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar22 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

23 the largest number of votes in the election is greater 

24 than or equal to 1 percent but less than 2 percent 

25 of the total votes cast in that election, the hand 

26 counts of the voter-verified paper ballots shall occur 


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1 in at least 5 percent of all precincts or equivalent lo2 cations (or alternative audit units used in accord3 ance with the method provided for under subsection 

4 (b)) in the Congressional district involved (in the 

5 case of an election for the House of Representatives) 

6 or the State (in the case of any other election for 

7 Federal office). 

8 ‘‘(3) In the event that the unofficial count as 

9 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar10 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

11 the largest number of votes in the election is equal 

12 to or greater than 2 percent of the total votes cast 

13 in that election, the hand counts of the voter-verified 

14 paper ballots shall occur in at least 3 percent of all 

15 precincts or equivalent locations (or alternative audit 

16 units used in accordance with the method provided 

17 for under subsection (b)) in the Congressional dis18 trict involved (in the case of an election for the 

19 House of Representatives) or the State (in the case 

20 of any other election for Federal office). 

21 ‘‘(b) USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECHANISM.— 

22 ‘‘(1) PERMITTING USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECH23 ANISM.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State 

24 may adopt and apply an alternative mechanism to 

25 determine the number of voter-verified paper ballots 


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1 which will be subject to the hand counts required 

2 under this subtitle with respect to an election, so 

3 long as the alternative mechanism uses the voter4 verified paper ballots to conduct the audit and the 

5 National Institute of Standards and Technology de6 termines that the alternative mechanism is in ac7 cordance with the principles set forth in paragraph 

8 (2). 

9 ‘‘(2) PRINCIPLES FOR APPROVAL.—In approv10 ing an alternative mechanism under paragraph (1), 

11 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

12 shall ensure that the audit procedure will have the 

13 property that for each election— 

14 ‘‘(A) the alternative mechanism will be at 

15 least as statistically effective in ensuring the ac16 curacy of the election results as the procedures 

17 under this subtitle; or 

18 ‘‘(B) the alternative mechanism will 

19 achieve at least a 95% confidence interval (as 

20 determined in accordance with criteria set forth 

21 by the National Institute of Standards and 

22 Technology) with respect to the outcome of the 

23 election. 

24 ‘‘(3) DEADLINE FOR RESPONSE.—The Director 

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1 nology shall make a determination regarding a 

2 State’s request to approve an alternative mechanism 

3 under paragraph (1) not later than 30 days after re4 ceiving the State’s request. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 323. PROCESS FOR ADMINISTERING AUDITS. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Election Auditor of a State 

7 shall administer an audit under this section of the results 

8 of an election in accordance with the following procedures: 

9 ‘‘(1) Within 24 hours after the State announces 

10 the final unofficial vote count (as defined by the 

11 State) in each precinct in the State, the Election 

12 Auditor shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) determine and then announce the 

14 precincts or equivalent locations (or alternative 

15 audit units used in accordance with the method 

16 provided under section 322(b)) in the State in 

17 which it will administer the audits; and 

18 ‘‘(B) with respect to votes cast at the pre19 cinct or equivalent location on or before the 

20 date of the election (other than provisional bal21 lots described in paragraph (2)), begin to ad22 minister the hand count of the votes on the 

23 voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

24 and preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) and 

25 the comparison of the count of the votes on 


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1 those ballots with the final unofficial count of 

2 such votes as announced by the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) With respect to votes cast other than at 

4 the precinct on the date of the election (other than 

5 votes cast before the date of the election described 

6 in paragraph (2)) or votes cast by provisional ballot 

7 on the date of the election which are certified and 

8 counted by the State on or after the date of the elec9 tion, including votes cast by absent uniformed serv10 ices voters and overseas voters under the Uniformed 

11 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the 

12 Election Auditor shall administer the hand count of 

13 the votes on the applicable voter-verified paper bal14 lots required to be produced and preserved under 

15 section 301(a)(2)(A) and the comparison of the 

16 count of the votes on those ballots with the final un17 official count of such votes as announced by the 

18 State. 

19 ‘‘(b) USE OF PERSONNEL.—In administering the au20 dits, the Election Auditor may utilize the services of the 

21 personnel of the State or jurisdiction, including election 

22 administration personnel and poll workers, without regard 

23 to whether or not the personnel have professional auditing 

24 experience. 


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1 ‘‘(c) LOCATION.—The Election Auditor shall admin2 ister an audit of an election— 

3 ‘‘(1) at the location where the ballots cast in 

4 the election are stored and counted after the date of 

5 the election or such other appropriate and secure lo6 cation agreed upon by the Election Auditor and the 

7 individual that is responsible under State law for the 

8 custody of the ballots; and 

9 ‘‘(2) in the presence of the personnel who under 

10 State law are responsible for the custody of the bal11 lots. 

12 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE IN CASE OF DELAY IN REPORT13 ING ABSENTEE VOTE COUNT.—In the case of a State in 

14 which the final count of absentee and provisional votes is 

15 not announced until after the date of the election, the 

16 Election Auditor shall initiate the process described in 

17 subsection (a) for administering the audit not later than 

18 24 hours after the State announces the final unofficial 

19 vote count for the votes cast at the precinct or equivalent 

20 location on or before the date of the election, and shall 

21 initiate the administration of the audit of the absentee and 

22 provisional votes pursuant to subsection (a)(2) not later 

23 than 24 hours after the State announces the final unoffi24 cial count of such votes. 

25 ‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL AUDITS IF CAUSE SHOWN.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Election Auditor 

2 finds that any of the hand counts administered 

3 under this section do not match the final unofficial 

4 tally of the results of an election, the Election Audi5 tor shall administer hand counts under this section 

6 of such additional precincts (or alternative audit 

7 units) as the Election Auditor considers appropriate 

8 to resolve any concerns resulting from the audit and 

9 ensure the accuracy of the election results. 

10 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT AND PUBLICATION OF

11 PROCEDURES GOVERNING ADDITIONAL AUDITS.— 

12 Not later than August 1, 2021, each State shall es13 tablish and publish procedures for carrying out the 

14 additional audits under this subsection, including the 

15 means by which the State shall resolve any concerns 

16 resulting from the audit with finality and ensure the 

17 accuracy of the election results. 

18 ‘‘(f) PUBLIC OBSERVATION OF AUDITS.—Each audit 

19 conducted under this section shall be conducted in a man20 ner that allows public observation of the entire process. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 324. SELECTION OF PRECINCTS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

23 (c), the selection of the precincts or alternative audit units 

24 in the State in which the Election Auditor of the State 

25 shall administer the hand counts under this subtitle shall 


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1 be made by the Election Auditor on a random basis, in 

2 accordance with procedures adopted by the National Insti3 tute of Standards and Technology, except that at least one 

4 precinct shall be selected at random in each county, with 

5 additional precincts selected by the Election Auditor at the 

6 Auditor’s discretion. 

7 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC SELECTION.—The random selection of 

8 precincts under subsection (a) shall be conducted in pub9 lic, at a time and place announced in advance. 

10 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY SELECTION OF PRECINCTS ESTAB11 LISHED SPECIFICALLY FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS.—If a 

12 State does not sort absentee ballots by precinct and in13 clude those ballots in the hand count with respect to that 

14 precinct, the State shall create absentee ballot precincts 

15 or audit units which are of similar size to the average pre16 cinct or audit unit in the jurisdiction being audited, and 

17 shall include those absentee precincts or audit units 

18 among the precincts in the State in which the Election 

19 Auditor shall administer the hand counts under this sub20 title. 

21 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR ADOPTION OF PROCEDURES BY

22 COMMISSION.—The National Institute of Standards and 

23 Technology shall adopt the procedures described in sub24 section (a) not later than March 31, 2021, and shall pub25 lish them in the Federal Register upon adoption. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 325. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) SUBMISSION TO COMMISSION.—As soon as prac3 ticable after the completion of an audit under this subtitle, 

4 the Election Auditor of a State shall submit to the Com5 mission the results of the audit, and shall include in the 

6 submission a comparison of the results of the election in 

7 the precinct as determined by the Election Auditor under 

8 the audit and the final unofficial vote count in the precinct 

9 as announced by the State and all undervotes, overvotes, 

10 blank ballots, and spoiled, voided, or cancelled ballots, as 

11 well as a list of any discrepancies discovered between the 

12 initial, subsequent, and final hand counts administered by 

13 the Election Auditor and such final unofficial vote count 

14 and any explanation for such discrepancies, broken down 

15 by the categories of votes described in paragraphs (1)(B) 

16 and (2) of section 323(a). 

17 ‘‘(b) PUBLICATION BY COMMISSION.—Immediately 

18 after receiving the submission of the results of an audit 

19 from the Election Auditor of a State under subsection (a), 

20 the Commission shall publicly announce and publish the 

21 information contained in the submission. 

22 ‘‘(c) DELAY IN CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS BY

23 STATE.— 

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1 sults of any election which is subject to an audit 

2 under this subtitle prior to— 

3 ‘‘(A) to the completion of the audit (and, 

4 if required, any additional audit conducted 

5 under section 323(e)(1)) and the announcement 

6 and submission of the results of each such audit 

7 to the Commission for publication of the infor8 mation required under this section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the completion of any procedure es10 tablished by the State pursuant to section 

11 323(e)(2) to resolve discrepancies and ensure 

12 the accuracy of results. 

13 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF AUDITS

14 OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.—In the case of an 

15 election for electors for President and Vice President 

16 which is subject to an audit under this subtitle, the 

17 State shall complete the audits and announce and 

18 submit the results to the Commission for publication 

19 of the information required under this section in 

20 time for the State to certify the results of the elec21 tion and provide for the final determination of any 

22 controversy or contest concerning the appointment 

23 of such electors prior to the deadline described in 

24 section 6 of title 3, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 326. PAYMENTS TO STATES. 

2 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS FOR COSTS OF CONDUCTING AU3 DITS.—In accordance with the requirements and proce4 dures of this section, the Commission shall make a pay5 ment to a State to cover the costs incurred by the State 

6 in carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elections 

7 that are the subject of the audits conducted under this 

8 subtitle. 

9 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE AND ANTICI10 PATED COSTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—In order to 

12 receive a payment under this section, a State shall 

13 submit to the Commission, in such form as the Com14 mission may require, a statement containing— 

15 ‘‘(A) a certification that the State will con16 duct the audits required under this subtitle in 

17 accordance with all of the requirements of this 

18 subtitle; 

19 ‘‘(B) a notice of the reasonable costs in20 curred or the reasonable costs anticipated to be 

21 incurred by the State in carrying out this sub22 title with respect to the elections involved; and 

23 ‘‘(C) such other information and assur24 ances as the Commission may require. 

25 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The amount of a 

26 payment made to a State under this section shall be 


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1 equal to the reasonable costs incurred or the reason2 able costs anticipated to be incurred by the State in 

3 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec4 tions involved, as set forth in the statement sub5 mitted under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(3) TIMING OF NOTICE.—The State may not 

7 submit a notice under paragraph (1) until can8 didates have been selected to appear on the ballot 

9 for all of the elections for Federal office which will 

10 be the subject of the audits involved. 

11 ‘‘(c) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Commission shall 

12 make the payment required under this section to a State 

13 not later than 30 days after receiving the notice submitted 

14 by the State under subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(d) RECOUPMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS.—No pay16 ment may be made to a State under this section unless 

17 the State agrees to repay to the Commission the excess 

18 (if any) of— 

19 ‘‘(1) the amount of the payment received by the 

20 State under this section with respect to the elections 

21 involved; over 

22 ‘‘(2) the actual costs incurred by the State in 

23 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec24 tions involved. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to the Commission for 

3 fiscal year 2020 and each succeeding fiscal year 

4 $100,000,000 for payments under this section. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 327. EXCEPTION FOR ELECTIONS SUBJECT TO RE6 COUNT UNDER STATE LAW PRIOR TO CER7 TIFICATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) EXCEPTION.—This subtitle does not apply to 

9 any election for which a recount under State law will com10 mence prior to the certification of the results of the elec11 tion, including but not limited to a recount required auto12 matically because of the margin of victory between the 2 

13 candidates receiving the largest number of votes in the 

14 election, but only if each of the following applies to the 

15 recount: 

16 ‘‘(1) The recount commences prior to the deter17 mination and announcement by the Election Auditor 

18 under section 323(a)(1) of the precincts in the State 

19 in which it will administer the audits under this sub20 title. 

21 ‘‘(2) If the recount would apply to fewer than 

22 100 percent of the ballots cast in the election— 

23 ‘‘(A) the number of ballots counted will be 

24 at least as many as would be counted if an 


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1 audit were conducted with respect to the elec2 tion in accordance with this subtitle; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the selection of the precincts in which 

4 the recount will be conducted will be made in 

5 accordance with the random selection proce6 dures applicable under section 324. 

7 ‘‘(3) The recount for the election meets the re8 quirements of section 323(f) (relating to public ob9 servation). 

10 ‘‘(4) The State meets the requirements of sec11 tion 325 (relating to the publication of results and 

12 the delay in the certification of results) with respect 

13 to the recount. 

14 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION OF EFFECT ON OTHER RE15 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this section may be construed 

16 to waive the application of any other provision of this Act 

17 to any election (including the requirement set forth in sec18 tion 301(a)(2) that the voter verified paper ballots serve 

19 as the vote of record and shall be counted by hand in all 

20 audits and recounts, including audits and recounts de21 scribed in this subtitle). 

22 ‘‘SEC. 328. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 ‘‘This subtitle shall apply with respect to elections for 

24 Federal office held in 2020 or any succeeding year.’’. 


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1 SEC. 612. AVAILABILITY OF ENFORCEMENT UNDER HELP 

2 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

3 Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking the period at 

5 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or the requirements 

6 of subtitle C of title III.’’. 

7 SEC. 613. GUIDANCE ON BEST PRACTICES FOR ALTER8 NATIVE AUDIT MECHANISMS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than May 1, 2021, the 

10 Director of the National Institute for Standards and Tech11 nology shall establish guidance for States that wish to es12 tablish alternative audit mechanisms under section 322(b) 

13 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added by section 

14 611). Such guidance shall be based upon scientifically and 

15 statistically reasonable assumptions for the purpose of cre16 ating an alternative audit mechanism that will be con17 sistent with the principles for approval described in section 

18 322(b)(2) of such Act (as so added). 

19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

20 authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a) 

21 $100,000, to remain available until expended. 

22 SEC. 614. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 

23 The table of contents of the Help America Vote Act 

24 of 2002 is amended by adding at the end of the items 

25 relating to title III the following: 

‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual Audits 


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‘‘Sec. 321. Requiring audits of results of elections. 

‘‘Sec. 322. Number of ballots counted under audit. 

‘‘Sec. 323. Process for administering audits. 

‘‘Sec. 324. Selection of precincts. 

‘‘Sec. 325. Publication of results. 

‘‘Sec. 326. Payments to States. 

‘‘Sec. 327. Exception for elections subject to recount under State law prior to 

certification. 

‘‘Sec. 328. Effective date.’’. 

1 TITLE VII—PROVISIONAL 

2 BALLOTS 

3 SEC. 701. REQUIREMENTS FOR COUNTING PROVISIONAL 

4 BALLOTS; ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIFORM AND 

5 NONDISCRIMINATORY STANDARDS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302 of the Help America 

7 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub9 section (f); and 

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol11 lowing new subsections: 

12 ‘‘(d) STATEWIDE COUNTING OF PROVISIONAL BAL13 LOTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

15 (a)(4), notwithstanding the precinct or polling place 

16 at which a provisional ballot is cast within the State, 

17 the appropriate election official shall count each vote 

18 on such ballot for each election in which the indi19 vidual who cast such ballot is eligible to vote. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

2 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu3 ary 1, 2018. 

4 ‘‘(e) UNIFORM AND NONDISCRIMINATORY STAND5 ARDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the re7 quirements of this section, each State shall establish 

8 uniform and nondiscriminatory standards for the 

9 issuance, handling, and counting of provisional bal10 lots. 

11 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

12 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu13 ary 1, 2018.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 302(f) of 

15 such Act (52 U.S.C. 21082(f)), as redesignated by sub16 section (a), is amended by striking ‘‘Each State’’ and in17 serting ‘‘Except as provided in subsections (d)(2) and 

18 (e)(2), each State’’. 

19 TITLE VIII—EARLY VOTING AND 

20 VOTING BY MAIL 

21 SEC. 801. EARLY VOTING AND VOTING BY MAIL. 

22 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

23 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.), 

24 as amended by section 114(a) and section 201(a), is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating sections 306 and 307 as 

2 sections 308 and 309; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 305 the following 

4 new sections: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 306. EARLY VOTING. 

6 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING VOTING PRIOR TO DATE OF ELEC7 TION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall allow indi9 viduals to vote in an election for Federal office dur10 ing an early voting period which occurs prior to the 

11 date of the election, in the same manner as voting 

12 is allowed on such date. 

13 ‘‘(2) LENGTH OF PERIOD.—The early voting 

14 period required under this subsection with respect to 

15 an election shall consist of a period of consecutive 

16 days (including weekends) which begins on the 15th 

17 day before the date of the election (or, at the option 

18 of the State, on a day prior to the 15th day before 

19 the date of the election) and ends on the date of the 

20 election. 

21 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

22 Each polling place which allows voting during an early vot23 ing period under subsection (a) shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) allow such voting for no less than 4 hours 

2 on each day, except that the polling place may allow 

3 such voting for fewer than 4 hours on Sundays; and 

4 ‘‘(2) have uniform hours each day for which 

5 such voting occurs. 

6 ‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES NEAR PUBLIC

7 TRANSPORTATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a 

8 State shall ensure that each polling place which allows vot9 ing during an early voting period under subsection (a) is 

10 located within walking distance of a stop on a public trans11 portation route. 

12 ‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall issue 

14 standards for the administration of voting prior to 

15 the day scheduled for a Federal election. Such 

16 standards shall include the nondiscriminatory geo17 graphic placement of polling places at which such 

18 voting occurs. 

19 ‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 

20 paragraph (1) shall permit States, upon providing 

21 adequate public notice, to deviate from any require22 ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances such 

23 as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or a change 

24 in voter turnout. 


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1 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

2 with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 2018. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 307. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 

4 MAIL. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli6 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

7 State may not impose any additional conditions or require8 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

9 in such election by mail, except as required under sub10 section (b) and except to the extent that the State imposes 

11 a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting ma12 terials from the appropriate State or local election official 

13 and for returning the ballot to the appropriate State or 

14 local election official. 

15 ‘‘(b) REQUIRING SIGNATURE VERIFICATION.—A 

16 State may not accept and process an absentee ballot sub17 mitted by any individual with respect to an election for 

18 Federal office unless the State verifies the identification 

19 of the individual by comparing the individual’s signature 

20 on the absentee ballot with the individual’s signature on 

21 the official list of registered voters in the State, in accord22 ance with such procedures as the State may adopt. 

23 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

24 with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 

25 2018.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

2 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS3 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 

4 U.S.C. 21101(b)), as amended by section 201(b), is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

7 (3); 

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para9 graph (4) and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

11 paragraphs: 

12 ‘‘(5) in the case of the recommendations with 

13 respect to section 306, June 30, 2018; and 

14 ‘‘(6) in the case of the recommendations with 

15 respect to section 307, June 30, 2018.’’. 

16 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

17 of such Act is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec19 tions 306 and 307 as relating to sections 308 and 

20 309; and 

21 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec22 tion 305 the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 306. Early voting. 

‘‘Sec. 307. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 


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1 TITLE IX—ABSENT UNIFORMED 

2 SERVICES VOTERS AND 

3 OVERSEAS VOTERS 

4 SEC. 901. EXTENDING GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR 

5 VOTING PURPOSES TO FAMILY MEMBERS OF 

6 ABSENT MILITARY PERSONNEL. 

7 Section 705 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 

8 (50 U.S.C. App. 595) is amended— 

9 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SPOUSES’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘FAMILY MEMBERS’’; and 

11 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(b) FAMILY MEMBERS.—For the purposes of voting 

14 for in any election for any Federal office (as defined in 

15 section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 

16 (52 U.S.C. 30101)) or any State or local office, a spouse, 

17 domestic partner, or dependent of a person who is absent 

18 from a State in compliance with military or naval orders 

19 shall not, solely by reason of that person’s absence and 

20 without regard to whether or not such family member is 

21 accompanying that person— 

22 ‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or 

23 domicile in that State, without regard to whether or 

24 not the person intends to return to that State; 


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1 ‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or 

2 domicile in any other State; or 

3 ‘‘(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or 

4 a resident of any other State.’’. 

5 SEC. 902. PRE-ELECTION REPORTS ON AVAILABILITY AND 

6 TRANSMISSION OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 

7 Section 102(c) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citi8 zens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20302(c)) is amend9 ed to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(c) REPORTS ON AVAILABILITY, TRANSMISSION, 

11 AND RECEIPT OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PRE-ELECTION REPORT ON ABSENTEE

13 BALLOT AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 55 days be14 fore any regularly scheduled general election for 

15 Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 

16 the Attorney General, the Election Assistance Com17 mission (hereafter in this subsection referred to as 

18 the ‘Commission’), and the Presidential Designee, 

19 and make that report publicly available that same 

20 day, certifying that absentee ballots for the election 

21 are or will be available for transmission to absent 

22 uniformed services voters and overseas voters by not 

23 later than 45 days before the election. The report 

24 shall be in a form prescribed jointly by the Attorney 

25 General and the Commission and shall require the 


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1 State to certify specific information about ballot 

2 availability from each unit of local government which 

3 will administer the election. 

4 ‘‘(2) PRE-ELECTION REPORT ON ABSENTEE

5 BALLOT TRANSMISSION.—Not later than 43 days be6 fore any regularly scheduled general election for 

7 Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 

8 the Attorney General, the Commission, and the 

9 Presidential Designee, and make that report publicly 

10 available that same day, certifying whether all ab11 sentee ballots have been transmitted by not later 

12 than 45 days before the election to all qualified ab13 sent uniformed services and overseas voters whose 

14 requests were received at least 45 days before the 

15 election. The report shall be in a form prescribed 

16 jointly by the Attorney General and the Commission, 

17 and shall require the State to certify specific infor18 mation about ballot transmission, including the total 

19 numbers of ballot requests received and ballots 

20 transmitted, from each unit of local government 

21 which will administer the election. 

22 ‘‘(3) POST-ELECTION REPORT ON NUMBER OF

23 ABSENTEE BALLOTS TRANSMITTED AND RE24 CEIVED.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

25 each regularly scheduled general election for Federal 


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1 office, each State and unit of local government 

2 which administered the election shall (through the 

3 State, in the case of a unit of local government) sub4 mit a report to the Attorney General, the Commis5 sion, and the Presidential Designee on the combined 

6 number of absentee ballots transmitted to absent 

7 uniformed services voters and overseas voters for the 

8 election and the combined number of such ballots 

9 which were returned by such voters and cast in the 

10 election, and shall make such report available to the 

11 general public that same day.’’. 

12 SEC. 903. ENFORCEMENT. 

13 (a) AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL PENALTIES AND PRI14 VATE RIGHTS OF ACTION.—Section 105 of the Uniformed 

15 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 

16 20307) is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 105. ENFORCEMENT. 

18 ‘‘(a) ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 

20 bring civil action in an appropriate district court for 

21 such declaratory or injunctive relief as may be nec22 essary to carry out this title. 

23 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—In a civil action brought under 

24 paragraph (1), if the court finds that the State vio25 lated any provision of this title, it may, to vindicate 


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1 the public interest, assess a civil penalty against the 

2 State— 

3 ‘‘(A) in an amount not to exceed $110,000 

4 for each such violation, in the case of a first 

5 violation; or 

6 ‘‘(B) in an amount not to exceed $220,000 

7 for each such violation, for any subsequent vio8 lation. 

9 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

10 December 31 of each year, the Attorney General 

11 shall submit to Congress an annual report on any 

12 civil action brought under paragraph (1) during the 

13 preceding year. 

14 ‘‘(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who is 

15 aggrieved by a State’s violation of this title may bring a 

16 civil action in an appropriate district court for such declar17 atory or injunctive relief as may be necessary to carry out 

18 this title. 

19 ‘‘(c) STATE AS ONLY NECESSARY DEFENDANT.—In 

20 any action brought under this section, the only necessary 

21 party defendant is the State, and it shall not be a defense 

22 to any such action that a local election official or a unit 

23 of local government is not named as a defendant, notwith24 standing that a State has exercised the authority described 

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1 powerment Act to delegate to another jurisdiction in the 

2 State any duty or responsibility which is the subject of 

3 an action brought under this section.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply with respect to violations alleged 

6 to have occurred on or after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act. 

8 SEC. 904. REVISIONS TO 45-DAY ABSENTEE BALLOT TRANS9 MISSION RULE. 

10 (a) REPEAL OF WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uni12 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

13 (52 U.S.C. 20302) is amended by striking sub14 section (g). 

15 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

16 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

17 20302(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘except as 

18 provided in subsection (g),’’. 

19 (b) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN CASE

20 OF FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENT.—Section 102 of 

21 such Act (52 U.S.C. 20302), as amended by subsection 

22 (a), is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the fol23 lowing new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(g) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN

2 CASE OF FAILURE TO TRANSMIT BALLOTS WITHIN

3 DEADLINES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) TRANSMISSION OF BALLOT BY EXPRESS

5 DELIVERY.—If a State fails to meet the requirement 

6 of subsection (a)(8)(A) to transmit a validly re7 quested absentee ballot to an absent uniformed serv8 ices voter or overseas voter not later than 45 days 

9 before the election (in the case in which the request 

10 is received at least 45 days before the election)— 

11 ‘‘(A) the State shall transmit the ballot to 

12 the voter by express delivery; or 

13 ‘‘(B) in the case of a voter who has des14 ignated that absentee ballots be transmitted 

15 electronically in accordance with subsection 

16 (f)(1), the State shall transmit the ballot to the 

17 voter electronically. 

18 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR TRANSMISSION FEWER

19 THAN 40 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION.—If, in car20 rying out paragraph (1), a State transmits an ab21 sentee ballot to an absent uniformed services voter 

22 or overseas voter fewer than 40 days before the elec23 tion, the State shall enable the ballot to be returned 

24 by the voter by express delivery, except that in the 

25 case of an absentee ballot of an absent uniformed 


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1 services voter for a regularly scheduled general elec2 tion for Federal office, the State may satisfy the re3 quirement of this paragraph by notifying the voter 

4 of the procedures for the collection and delivery of 

5 such ballots under section 103A.’’. 

6 (c) CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF WEEK7 ENDS.—Section 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

8 20302(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘the election;’’ 

9 and inserting the following: ‘‘the election (or, if the 45th 

10 day preceding the election is a weekend or legal public hol11 iday, not later than the most recent weekday which pre12 cedes such 45th day and which is not a legal public holi13 day, but only if the request is received by at least such 

14 most recent weekday);’’. 

15 SEC. 905. USE OF SINGLE ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION 

16 FOR SUBSEQUENT ELECTIONS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104 of the Uniformed and 

18 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20306) 

19 is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 104. USE OF SINGLE APPLICATION FOR SUBSEQUENT 

21 ELECTIONS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If a State accepts and processes 

23 an official post card form (prescribed under section 101) 

24 submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or over25 seas voter for simultaneous voter registration and absenVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00142 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 tee ballot application (in accordance with section 

2 102(a)(4)) and the voter requests that the application be 

3 considered an application for an absentee ballot for each 

4 subsequent election for Federal office held in the State 

5 through the next regularly scheduled general election for 

6 Federal office (including any runoff elections which may 

7 occur as a result of the outcome of such general election), 

8 the State shall provide an absentee ballot to the voter for 

9 each such subsequent election. 

10 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION FOR VOTERS CHANGING REGISTRA11 TION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a 

12 voter registered to vote in a State for any election held 

13 after the voter notifies the State that the voter no longer 

14 wishes to be registered to vote in the State or after the 

15 State determines that the voter has registered to vote in 

16 another State or is otherwise no longer eligible to vote in 

17 the State. 

18 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF APPLICATION ON

19 GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION.—A State may not 

20 refuse to accept or to process, with respect to any election 

21 for Federal office, any otherwise valid voter registration 

22 application or absentee ballot application (including the 

23 postcard form prescribed under section 101) submitted by 

24 an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter on 

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1 fore the first date on which the State otherwise accepts 

2 or processes such applications for that election which are 

3 submitted by absentee voters who are not members of the 

4 uniformed services or overseas citizens.’’. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

6 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to voter registration 

7 and absentee ballot applications which are submitted to 

8 a State or local election official on or after the date of 

9 the enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 906. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 The amendments made by this title shall apply with 

12 respect to elections occurring on or after January 1, 2018. 

13 TITLE X—POLL WORKER 

14 RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING 

15 SEC. 1001. LEAVE TO SERVE AS A POLL WORKER FOR FED16 ERAL EMPLOYEES. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 63 of 

18 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

19 end the following: 

20 ‘‘§ 6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll 

21 worker 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee in or under an Ex23 ecutive agency is entitled to leave, without loss of or reduc24 tion in pay, leave to which otherwise entitled, credit for 


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1 time or service, or performance or efficiency rating, not 

2 to exceed 6 days in a leave year, in order— 

3 ‘‘(1) to provide election administration assist4 ance to a State or unit of local government at a poll5 ing place on the date of any election for public of6 fice; or 

7 ‘‘(2) to receive any training without which such 

8 employee would be ineligible to provide such assist9 ance. 

10 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—The Director of the Office of 

11 Personnel Management may prescribe regulations for the 

12 administration of this section, including regulations set13 ting forth the terms and conditions of the election admin14 istration assistance an employee may provide for purposes 

15 of subsection (a).’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

17 for chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

18 by inserting after the item relating to section 6328 the 

19 following: 

‘‘6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll worker.’’. 

20 SEC. 1002. GRANTS TO STATES FOR POLL WORKER RE21 CRUITMENT AND TRAINING. 

22 (a) GRANTS BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS23 SION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

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1 sion’’) shall make a grant to each eligible State for 

2 recruiting and training individuals to serve as non3 partisan poll workers on dates of elections for public 

4 office. 

5 (2) USE OF COMMISSION MATERIALS.—In car6 rying out activities with a grant provided under this 

7 section, the recipient of the grant shall use the man8 ual prepared by the Commission on successful prac9 tices for poll worker recruiting, training and reten10 tion as an interactive training tool, and shall develop 

11 training programs with the participation and input 

12 of experts in adult learning. 

13 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 

14 (1) APPLICATION.—Each State that desires to 

15 receive a payment under this section shall submit an 

16 application for the payment to the Commission at 

17 such time and in such manner and containing such 

18 information as the Commission shall require. 

19 (2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli20 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

21 (A) describe the activities for which assist22 ance under this section is sought; 

23 (B) provide assurances that the funds pro24 vided under this section will be used to suppleVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00146 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 ment and not supplant other funds used to 

2 carry out the activities; 

3 (C) provide assurances that the State will 

4 furnish the Commission with information on the 

5 number of individuals who served as non6 partisan poll workers after recruitment and 

7 training with the funds provided under this sec8 tion; and 

9 (D) provide such additional information 

10 and certifications as the Commission deter11 mines to be essential to ensure compliance with 

12 the requirements of this section. 

13 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a grant 

15 made to a State under this section shall be equal to 

16 the product of— 

17 (A) the aggregate amount made available 

18 for grants to States under this section; and 

19 (B) the voting age population percentage 

20 for the State. 

21 (2) VOTING AGE POPULATION PERCENTAGE DE22 FINED.—In paragraph (1), the ‘‘voting age popu23 lation percentage’’ for a State is the quotient of— 

24 (A) the voting age population of the State 

25 (as determined on the basis of the most recent 


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1 information available from the Bureau of the 

2 Census); and 

3 (B) the total voting age population of all 

4 States (as determined on the basis of the most 

5 recent information available from the Bureau of 

6 the Census). 

7 (d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

8 (1) REPORTS BY RECIPIENTS OF GRANTS.—Not 

9 later than 6 months after the date on which the 

10 final grant is made under this section, each recipient 

11 of a grant shall submit a report to the Commission 

12 on the activities conducted with the funds provided 

13 by the grant. 

14 (2) REPORTS BY COMMISSION.—Not later than 

15 1 year after the date on which the final grant is 

16 made under this section, the Commission shall sub17 mit a report to Congress on the grants made under 

18 this section and the activities carried out by recipi19 ents with the grants, and shall include in the report 

20 such recommendations as the Commission considers 

21 appropriate. 

22 (e) FUNDING.— 

23 (1) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNT AP24 PROPRIATED.—Any amount appropriated to carry 


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1 out this section shall remain available without fiscal 

2 year limitation until expended. 

3 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

4 amount appropriated for any fiscal year to carry out 

5 this section, not more than 3 percent shall be avail6 able for administrative expenses of the Commission. 

7 SEC. 1003. MODEL POLL WORKER TRAINING PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM BY ELECTION AS9 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Not later than 1 year after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assistance 

11 Commission shall develop and provide to each State mate12 rials for a model poll worker training program which the 

13 State may use to train individuals to serve as poll workers 

14 in elections for Federal office. 

15 (b) CONTENTS OF MATERIALS.—The materials for 

16 the model poll worker training program developed under 

17 this section shall include materials to provide training with 

18 respect to the following: 

19 (1) The relevant provisions of the Federal laws 

20 which apply to the administration of elections for 

21 Federal office in the State, including the Voting 

22 Rights Act of 1965 and the Help America Vote Act 

23 of 2002. 


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1 (2) The provision of access to voting to individ2 uals with disabilities in a manner which preserves 

3 the dignity and privacy of such individuals. 

4 (3) The provision of access to voting to individ5 uals with limited English language proficiency, and 

6 to individuals who are members or racial or ethnic 

7 minorities, consistent with the protections provided 

8 for such individuals under relevant law, in a manner 

9 which preserves the dignity of such individuals. 

10 (4) Practical experience in the use of the voting 

11 machines which will be used in the election involved, 

12 including the accessibility features of such machines. 

13 (5) Such other election administration subjects 

14 as the Commission considers appropriate to ensure 

15 that poll workers are able to effectively assist with 

16 the administration of elections for Federal office. 

17 SEC. 1004. STATE DEFINED. 

18 In this title, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the District 

19 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, 

20 American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and 

21 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 


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1 TITLE XI—ENHANCEMENT OF 

2 ENFORCEMENT 

3 SEC. 1101. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP 

4 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

5 (a) COMPLAINTS; AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT

6 OF ACTION.—Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act 

7 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General’’ and in9 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General’’; 

10 and 

11 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub12 sections: 

13 ‘‘(b) FILING OF COMPLAINTS BY AGGRIEVED PER14 SONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who is aggrieved 

16 by a violation of subtitle A or subtitle C of title III 

17 which has occurred, is occurring, or is about to 

18 occur may file a written, signed, notarized complaint 

19 with the Attorney General describing the violation 

20 and requesting the Attorney General to take appro21 priate action under this section. The Attorney Gen22 eral shall immediately provide a copy of a complaint 

23 filed under the previous sentence to the entity re24 sponsible for administering the State-based adminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00151 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 trative complaint procedures described in section 

2 402(a) for the State involved. 

3 ‘‘(2) RESPONSE BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 

4 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 

5 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce6 dures established by the Attorney General that re7 quire responses and determinations to be made with8 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 

9 State under the State-based administrative com10 plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 

11 The Attorney General shall immediately provide a 

12 copy of the response made under the previous sen13 tence to the entity responsible for administering the 

14 State-based administrative complaint procedures de15 scribed in section 402(a) for the State involved. 

16 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC17 TION.—Any person who is authorized to file a complaint 

18 under subsection (b)(1) (including any individual who 

19 seeks to enforce the individual’s right to a voter-verified 

20 paper ballot, the right to have the voter-verified paper bal21 lot counted in accordance with this Act, or any other right 

22 under subtitles A or C of title III) may file an action under 

23 section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States 

24 (42 U.S.C. 1983) to enforce the uniform and nondiscrim25 inatory election technology and administration requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00152 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 ments under subtitle A of title III, or the requirements 

2 of subtitle C of title III. 

3 ‘‘(d) NO EFFECT ON STATE PROCEDURES.—Nothing 

4 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 

5 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re6 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 

7 under this subsection.’’. 

8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply with respect to violations occurring 

10 with respect to elections for Federal office held in 2018 

11 or any succeeding year. 

12 TITLE XII—FEDERAL ELECTION 

13 INTEGRITY 

14 SEC. 1201. PROHIBITION ON CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES BY 

15 CHIEF STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION 

16 OFFICIALS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election 

18 Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 

19 amended by inserting after section 319 the following new 

20 section: 

21 ‘‘CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES BY CHIEF STATE ELECTION

22 ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS

23 ‘‘SEC. 319A. (a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful 

24 for a chief State election administration official to take 

25 an active part in political management or in a political 


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1 campaign with respect to any election for Federal office 

2 over which such official has supervisory authority. 

3 ‘‘(b) CHIEF STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION OF4 FICIAL.—The term ‘chief State election administration of5 ficial’ means the highest State official with responsibility 

6 for the administration of Federal elections under State 

7 law. 

8 ‘‘(c) ACTIVE PART IN POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OR

9 IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.—The term ‘active part in po10 litical management or in a political campaign’ means— 

11 ‘‘(1) serving as a member of an authorized com12 mittee of a candidate for Federal office; 

13 ‘‘(2) the use of official authority or influence 

14 for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the 

15 result of an election for Federal office; 

16 ‘‘(3) the solicitation, acceptance, or receipt of a 

17 contribution from any person on behalf of a can18 didate for Federal office; and 

19 ‘‘(4) any other act which would be prohibited 

20 under paragraph (2) or (3) of section 7323(b) of 

21 title 5, United States Code, if taken by an individual 

22 to whom such paragraph applies (other than any 

23 prohibition on running for public office). 

24 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION FOR CAMPAIGNS OF OFFICIAL OR

25 IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not apply 

2 to a chief State election administration official with 

3 respect to an election for Federal office in which the 

4 official or an immediate family member of the offi5 cial is a candidate. 

6 ‘‘(2) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER DEFINED.— 

7 In paragraph (1), the term ‘immediate family mem8 ber’ means, with respect to a candidate, a father, 

9 mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, 

10 wife, father-in-law, or mother-in-law.’’. 

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections for 

13 Federal office held after December 2017. 

14 TITLE XIII—OTHER ELECTION 

15 ADMINISTRATION IMPROVE16 MENTS 

17 SEC. 1301. TREATMENT OF UNIVERSITIES AS VOTER REG18 ISTRATION AGENCIES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the National Voter 

20 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20506(a)) is amend21 ed— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub24 paragraph (A); 


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1 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

2 subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

4 subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(C) each institution of higher education 

6 (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Edu7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) in the 

8 State that receives Federal funds.’’; and 

9 (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by inserting ‘‘or, in 

10 the case of an institution of higher education, with 

11 each registration of a student for enrollment in a 

12 course of study’’ after ‘‘assistance,’’. 

13 (b) AMENDMENT TO HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF

14 1965.—Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

15 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by striking para16 graph (23). 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 

19 or after January 1, 2018. 

20 SEC. 1302. MINIMUM NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

21 VOTERS AFFECTED BY POLLING PLACE 

22 CHANGES. 

23 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 302 of the Help Amer24 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082), as amended by 

25 section 701(a), is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub2 section (g); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol4 lowing new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(f) MINIMUM NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR

6 VOTERS AFFECTED BY POLLING PLACE CHANGES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State assigns an indi8 vidual who is a registered voter in a State to a poll9 ing place with respect to an election for Federal of10 fice which is not the same polling place to which the 

11 individual was previously assigned with respect to 

12 the most recent election for Federal office in the 

13 State in which the individual was eligible to vote— 

14 ‘‘(A) the State shall notify the individual of 

15 the location of the polling place not later than 

16 7 days before the date of the election; or 

17 ‘‘(B) if the State makes such an assign18 ment fewer than 7 days before the date of the 

19 election and the individual appears on the date 

20 of the election at the polling place to which the 

21 individual was previously assigned, the State 

22 shall make every reasonable effort to enable the 

23 individual to vote on the date of the election. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

2 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu3 ary 1, 2018.’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 302(f) of 

5 such Act (52 U.S.C. 21082(f)), as redesignated by sub6 section (a) and as amended by section 701(b), is amended 

7 by striking ‘‘(d)(2) and (e)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d)(2), 

8 (e)(2), and (f)(2)’’. 

9 SEC. 1303. VOTER INFORMATION RESPONSE SYSTEMS AND 

10 HOTLINE. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF SYSTEMS

12 AND SERVICES.— 

13 (1) STATE-BASED RESPONSE SYSTEMS.—The 

14 Attorney General shall coordinate the establishment 

15 of a State-based response system for responding to 

16 questions and complaints from individuals voting or 

17 seeking to vote, or registering to vote or seeking to 

18 register to vote, in elections for Federal office. Such 

19 system shall provide— 

20 (A) State-specific, same-day, and imme21 diate assistance to such individuals, including 

22 information on how to register to vote, the loca23 tion and hours of operation of polling places, 

24 and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 


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1 (B) State-specific, same-day, and imme2 diate assistance to individuals encountering 

3 problems with registering to vote or voting, in4 cluding individuals encountering intimidation or 

5 deceptive practices. 

6 (2) HOTLINE.—The Attorney General, in con7 sultation with State election officials, shall establish 

8 and operate a toll-free telephone service, using a 

9 telephone number that is accessible throughout the 

10 United States and that uses easily identifiable nu11 merals, through which individuals throughout the 

12 United States— 

13 (A) may connect directly to the State14 based response system described in paragraph 

15 (1) with respect to the State involved; 

16 (B) may obtain information on voting in 

17 elections for Federal office, including informa18 tion on how to register to vote in such elections, 

19 the locations and hours of operation of polling 

20 places, and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 

21 (C) may report information to the Attor22 ney General on problems encountered in reg23 istering to vote or voting, including incidences 

24 of voter intimidation or suppression. 


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1 (3) COLLABORATION WITH STATE AND LOCAL

2 ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 

3 (A) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION FROM

4 STATES.—The Attorney General shall coordi5 nate the collection of information on State and 

6 local election laws and policies, including infor7 mation on the Statewide computerized voter 

8 registration lists maintained under title III of 

9 the Help America Vote Act of 2002, so that in10 dividuals who contact the free telephone service 

11 established under paragraph (2) on the date of 

12 an election for Federal office may receive an 

13 immediate response on that day. 

14 (B) FORWARDING QUESTIONS AND COM15 PLAINTS TO STATES.—If an individual contacts 

16 the free telephone service established under 

17 paragraph (2) on the date of an election for 

18 Federal office with a question or complaint with 

19 respect to a particular State or jurisdiction 

20 within a State, the Attorney General shall for21 ward the question or complaint immediately to 

22 the appropriate election official of the State or 

23 jurisdiction so that the official may answer the 

24 question or remedy the complaint on that date. 


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1 (4) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS FOR DE2 VELOPMENT OF SYSTEMS AND SERVICES.—The At3 torney General shall ensure that the State-based re4 sponse system under paragraph (1) and the free 

5 telephone service under paragraph (2) are each de6 veloped in consultation with civil rights organiza7 tions, voting rights groups, State and local election 

8 officials, voter protection groups, and other inter9 ested community organizations, especially those that 

10 have experience in the operation of similar systems 

11 and services. 

12 (b) USE OF SERVICE BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS13 ABILITIES AND INDIVIDUALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH

14 LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY.—The Attorney General shall 

15 design and operate the telephone service established under 

16 this section in a manner that ensures that individuals with 

17 disabilities and individuals with limited proficiency in the 

18 English language are fully able to use the service. 

19 (c) VOTER HOTLINE TASK FORCE.— 

20 (1) APPOINTMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

21 The Attorney General shall appoint individuals (in 

22 such number as the Attorney General considers ap23 propriate but in no event fewer than 3) to serve on 

24 a Voter Hotline Task Force to provide ongoing anal25 ysis and assessment of the operation of the teleVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00161 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437

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1 phone service established under this section, and 

2 shall give special consideration in making appoint3 ments to the Task Force to individuals who rep4 resent civil rights organizations. At least one mem5 ber of the Task Force shall be a representative of 

6 an organization promoting voting rights or civil 

7 rights which has experience in the operation of simi8 lar telephone services or in protecting the rights of 

9 individuals to vote, especially individuals who are 

10 members or racial minorities or of communities who 

11 have been adversely affected by efforts to suppress 

12 voting rights. 

13 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual shall be eligi14 ble to serve on the Task Force under this subsection 

15 if the individual meets such criteria as the Attorney 

16 General may establish, except that an individual may 

17 not serve on the task force if the individual has been 

18 convicted of any criminal offense relating to voter in19 timidation or voter suppression. 

20 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—An individual ap21 pointed to the Task Force shall serve a single term 

22 of 2 years, except that the initial terms of the mem23 bers first appointed to the Task Force shall be stag24 gered so that there are at least 3 individuals serving 

25 on the Task Force during each year. A vacancy in 


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1 the membership of the Task Force shall be filled in 

2 the same manner as the original appointment. 

3 (4) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Mem4 bers of the Task Force shall serve without pay, but 

5 shall receive travel expenses, including per diem in 

6 lieu of subsistence, in accordance with applicable 

7 provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

8 5, United States Code. 

9 (d) BI-ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

10 than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Attorney 

11 General shall submit a report to Congress on the operation 

12 of the telephone service established under this section dur13 ing the previous 2 years, and shall include in the report— 

14 (1) an enumeration of the number and type of 

15 calls that were received by the service; 

16 (2) a compilation and description of the reports 

17 made to the service by individuals citing instances of 

18 voter intimidation or suppression; 

19 (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

20 service in making information available to all house21 holds in the United States with telephone service; 

22 (4) any recommendations developed by the 

23 Task Force established under subsection (c) with re24 spect to how voting systems may be maintained or 

25 upgraded to better accommodate voters and better 


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1 ensure the integrity of elections, including but not 

2 limited to identifying how to eliminate coordinated 

3 voter suppression efforts and how to establish effec4 tive mechanisms for distributing updates on changes 

5 to voting requirements; and 

6 (5) any recommendations on best practices for 

7 the State-based response systems established under 

8 subsection (a)(1). 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

11 be appropriated to the Attorney General for fiscal 

12 year 2017 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums 

13 as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

14 (2) SET-ASIDE FOR OUTREACH.—Of the 

15 amounts appropriated to carry out this Act for a fis16 cal year pursuant to the authorization under para17 graph (1), not less than 15% shall be used for out18 reach activities to make the public aware of the 

19 availability of the telephone service established under 

20 this section, with an emphasis on outreach to indi21 viduals with disabilities and individuals with limited 

22 proficiency in the English language. 


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1 SEC. 1304. REAUTHORIZATION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

2 COMMISSION. 

3 Section 210 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (52 U.S.C. 20930) is amended by striking ‘‘for each of 

5 the fiscal years 2003 through 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘for 

6 each of the fiscal years 2017 through 2022’’. 

7 SEC. 1305. APPLICATION OF LAWS TO COMMONWEALTH OF 

8 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 

9 (a) NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION ACT OF

10 1993.—Section 3(4) of the National Voter Registration 

11 Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20502(4)) is amended by striking 

12 ‘‘States and the District of Columbia’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth 

14 of the Northern Mariana Islands’’. 

15 (b) HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 901 of the Help 

17 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141) is 

18 amended by striking ‘‘and the United States Virgin 

19 Islands’’ and inserting ‘‘the United States Virgin Is20 lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar21 iana Islands’’. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

23 MINIMUM AMOUNT OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENT TO

24 TERRITORIES.—Section 252(c)(2) of such Act (52 

25 U.S.C. 21002(c)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘or the 

26 United States Virgin Islands’’ and inserting ‘‘the 


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1 United States Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth 

2 of the Northern Mariana Islands’’. 

3 SEC. 1306. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSIST4 ANCE COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERN5 MENT CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS . 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205 of the Help America 

7 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20925) is amended by strik8 ing subsection (e). 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to contracts entered 

11 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 SEC. 1307. NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as specifically provided, 

15 nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize or re16 quire conduct prohibited under any of the following laws, 

17 or to supersede, restrict, or limit the application of such 

18 laws: 

19 (1) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 

20 10301 et seq.). 

21 (2) The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and 

22 Handicapped Act (52 U.S.C. 20101 et seq.). 

23 (3) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Ab24 sentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq.). 


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1 (4) The National Voter Registration Act of 

2 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.). 

3 (5) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 

4 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

5 (6) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

6 701 et seq.). 

7 (b) NO EFFECT ON PRECLEARANCE OR OTHER RE8 QUIREMENTS UNDER VOTING RIGHTS ACT.—The ap9 proval by any person of a payment or grant application 

10 under this Act, or any other action taken by any person 

11 under this Act, shall not be considered to have any effect 

12 on requirements for preclearance under section 5 of the 

13 Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10304) or any other 

14 requirements of such Act. 

Æ 


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